The A-Mei-Zing OutBack Adventure
by FunkyMeihem
Summary: When Mei decides to journey to the Australian outback in order to restart its eco-station program, Junkrat and Roadhog are the two most qualified junkers around to be her guides and companions. But despite radioactive storms, hostile wildlife, and even more hostile people lurking in the great desert, Junkrat and Mei's feelings for one another cause them the most trouble of all.
1. Chapter 1

Being a climatologist was, at times, a thrilling profession. Mei-Ling Zhou had seen the spiraling clouds on all sides from the eyes of hurricanes in the Caribbean, tracked rogue precipitory downpours across the vast plains of Numbani in a half-broken safari jeep, weathered through category 5 blizzards in the Antarctic, and had ascended Mount Everest twice (although never its peak). At times, her studies in the world's rapidly shifting climate had been nothing short of adventurous.

This was not one of those times.

She sat with her chin in one hand, the other aimlessly scribbling in answers in her sudoku book as her eyes barely followed a slow-moving blob of green cloud across a holographic map, just as she had been doing for the past several hours.

For the past several months she had been stuck watching the weather patterns of the world go by from behind a computer screen, waiting for orders from Winston; orders which almost never came. The last calls to action had not even involved her at all. They always took along the veterans and more combat-intensive members; Soldier 76, Ana, Mercy, Pharah, Genji, and others. She was usually tasked with babysitting the backlines, or 'taking care of the base' when the others were away, known as the 'responsible one'. She had readily agreed to rejoin the newly-resurrected Overwatch, and it had been wonderful to see old friends and colleagues, return to her old room back at headquarters, and to catch up on the years of shows and books she had missed out on, while she had slept the years away in cryostasis…but despite her studious and softspoken nature, Mei had always craved adventure, and she was rapidly becoming bored of the whole situation.

Even worse, there was nowhere for her to really go. Her tiny quarters on the base was the only home she had left. Her parents had both passed during her sleep, her childhood home in Xi'an had been leveled to make room for a new apartment block, and all of the eco-watchpoints that she and her team had established were all gone, abandoned and destroyed. This really was all that was left…

So she sat in front of her monitor, as she had been told to do, and watched the virtual clouds go by as she daydreamed of better times.

* * *

 _ **BOOM**_

A rumble shook her room, vibrating through the walls and causing her to startle in her chair, her sudoku book flying off to the side and her glasses being knocked askew. Grumbling, she straightened them back upon her nose as she stood and stomped out the door, looking as fierce as she thought was possible while dressed in sweatpants and bare footed.

 _ **BOOM BOOM BOOM**_

Her travels took her out of the dorm area, to a nearby staging ground some distance away. The reverberating crashes and explosions didn't worry her so much as irritate her. They were a very distinctive sort of sound, and one she had learned to identify very well by now.

"Excuse me? Excuse me!? Hey! _Qǐng wèn_!" She tried yelling over the din as she neared, but her cries went either unheard or ignored.

"Arroight, Roadie! Same as before! Pull!"

Roadhog stood off to the side, standing vigil next to a pile of deactivated and broken target bots. As Mei watched, the massive pig-masked man lifted one of the heavy things effortlessly with one thick arm, grunting slightly as he reared back and tossed it into the air.

Junkrat stood at the front of the range, his grenade launcher lifted up on one shoulder as he took aim and fired. The grenades missed their spinning aerial target by a mile, sailing past to bounce against the far walls before exploding with the same rapidfire booming noises Mei had heard a million times before.

"Fuck!" he shrilled, slamming another handful of grenades into place in a movement that was far too rough for Mei's liking. The last thing she wanted was to see him blowing what was left of his limbs off. The lanky junker looked even more manic than usual somehow, and he gnawed and worried at his lip, twitching erratically as another bot went sailing into the air and another round of grenades went flying past.

 _ **BOOM BOOM BOOM**_

"Junkrat! Mr. Fawkes!" Mei waved both arms, and the movement finally seemed to catch his eye.

Immediately his expression brightened and he lowered his gun, loping forward towards her with the telltale k-thump k-thump of his peg leg. He licked one filthy palm, using it to slick back what remained of his tattered clumps of blonde and charred-black hair, coughing slightly to clear his voice before leaning on one of the nearby railings, flashing her a wink and the gun. " _Hcckf_! So! G'day, Mei! Didn't expect t'see your lovely face in a place like this. Er, I mean, I did! I mean, I know you live right over there. But I'm not saying I know where you live, not like that! Uh…so, how's it going? Hope it's real…good!"

Mei sighed at his over the top mannerisms. The junker had been mooning over her since before she'd even met him. Tracer had teased her that the first thing he'd asked about in his tour of the facilities was the name of that 'cute Asian shiela'. Others had reported him staring and sighing a lot during their communal dinners in the cafeteria. The first time they had been officially introduced, Junkrat's voice had actually cracked like he was a teenager again, and he had stuttered his way through trying to tell her just how much he was looking forward to working with her, before Winston had taken pity on him and given an excuse to drag him away. Even still, every time she tried to talk with him, his failed attempts at flirtation and smooth-talking left her bemused and more than a bit uncomfortable.

"Well, I was trying to get some work done before you started shooting grenades at my window."

"Aw, Mei darl, that's what the target range is for! Can't get mad at me for practicin'! Not like there's anythin' else to do around here right now," he grumbled, snorting and scuffing his boot in the dust. "Asides, I got some real stress I gotta work off. Nothing better for stress than a few big booms!"

She pursed her lips, but couldn't help but agree with him. Even coming out here to scold him for the noise had been a distraction she'd openly invited. "Well, still. You should be more careful anyway. Ah…Are you all right? What has you so frustrated?"

The junker frowned down at her, rolling another grenade around in his mechanical hand. Mei couldn't help but watch it nervously. "Aw, it's nothing. Personal matters," he muttered, "Just heard about some troubles back in our old stompin' grounds in Oz."

"Troubles?" she echoed.

"Roadie, tell 'er!"

Mei turned to Roadhog, who stood staring down at her in ever-present menace, silent save for the faint muffled rasp of his breathing within the mask. He said nothing. Mei looked back to Junkrat.

"Too roight!" Junkrat nodded up to his bodyguard in agreement. "Just heard a bit ago that some big bonzer of a storm took out another couple junker towns outside the Broome. Red storm, they say, one of the real bad 'uns, wiped 'em all out to a man. Roadie and I used to get out that way a lot, wasn't all bad folks there. Think I had a girl there once or twice, when Roadie n' I hhhh-" His breath came out all in a rush as Roadhog shook his head quickly. Mei was giving him a very unimpressed look from the sidelines of the range, eyes lidded and arms folded. "Er, y'know, real long ago. Point is, s'all gone now. So, not one to whinge, thought I'd just come out here and blast a few rounds. Ya know, in honor of the ones we lost who weren't complete bastards."

Mei was looking thoughtful. "You said it was another of the red storms?"

Junkrat nodded. "Yeah, yeah. Nothin' but red dust and radioactive lightning. Junker towns can usually deal with 'em but must've been one dooly of a storm to take out so many."

"Could they not evacuate?"

Junkrat snorted a laugh. "Evacuate? By the time someone sees one up on the horizon and tries to radio it in, all you can do is hope that the signal can still get through. All you can do is hunker down and try not to breathe in too much of the red dust. I mean, I'm sure I breathed more than my fair share when I was a mite, but I turned out all roight."

Roadhog sighed slightly.

Mei's brows knitted. "You mean the junkers still use visuals and radio? Does nobody monitor the storms there? Especially if they are that severe?"

"Who would? We don't have cutie-patootie weather gals like you just runnin' around the outback, ya know. Kinda wish we had…"

Mei spun around, tapping her fingers against her chin. She had done some paltry research on the storms in Australia, but details had been sparse at best. The junkers described the storms as some sort of omnic revenge, radioactive tempests that kicked up gales of poisoned desert sand, with hurricane force winds, and rain that burned like fire. But nearly the whole continent had been evacuated decades ago, and the weather patterns there were chaotic and unstudied, leaving the place's few inhabitants to its mercy.

Her attempts at accessing the Australian eco-station's data had been fruitless. It had likely been destroyed, or dismantled by the desert scavengers if not. She herself had never visited. It had always been deemed too dangerous for anyone but the older members of her old organization. But they were long gone now, and it sounded like the struggling residents of Australia's outback needed a skilled climatologist now more than ever. An entire continent's climate patterns had gone ignored for decades and there would be a treasure trove of data to discover there. Plus, it would be a good-will mission that would get her out of this awful base.

She turned and reached up to grasp onto the startled Junkrat's bony shoulders. " _Wǒ yǒu gè zhǔyì_!"

"Uh?"

"I have an idea!" she clarified, before turning and dashing off back towards the base proper.

Junkrat watched her go, slumping his chin down to rest in both hands and sighing aloud. "Think I'm in love, Roadie."

Roadhog patted him awkwardly on his bony back and gave him a thumbs up.

* * *

Winston folded both muscular forearms. Just to drive the point home, he folded his feet as well, all digits tapping impatiently against his armor. "Absolutely not. You are not going to the Australian outback."

"Winston, it is a good idea! Just hear me out! Think of all the valuable data we can find, think of all the people we can help!"

"Australia was all but abandoned, Mei, and the people that are left are…" The enormous gorilla cleared his throat politely. "I would not be comfortable sending you there."

"You were comfortable enough to bring two of them here," she answered slyly, having already anticipated his reaction.

Similarly anticipated, he became immediately flustered. "Well that was…a suggestion by Athena at first, when I put in parameters about needing skilled combatants. And they have performed their functions well, after some initial frictions, which honestly were to be expected, considering the- All right, Mei, I see what you did there. But the answer is still in the negative, we don't need you heading into who-knows-what kind of chaos by yourself when we still need you here."

"That is the thing, Winston, you don't need me here. I haven't had a call to action in weeks. I could be doing so much more, I could be helping people. That's why I originally joined Overwatch, was to help people!"

He sighed, dragging his fingers down his face uneasily. He and Mei had always gotten along very well. He even considered her one of his closer friends, and the thought of knowingly sending her into such territory clearly unsettled him. But the way she was looking at him now, with that kind of fire in her eyes and that pleading tone, he could already feel his resolve slipping. He turned hurriedly back to his computer. "Well, we have plenty of other missions we could send you on! There…might be something coming up in a few months, actually, for the science team! And you never know when there might be an emergency…"

Mei gave him a very hard look. "Winston, I can not just sit here waiting for any more 'maybe's. I signed up to do my job and to help preserve the world. I can't do that from here…"

"But Australia? By yourself?"

"I won't be by myself…I'm here to request that Junkrat and Roadhog accompany me."

"Mei!"

"They are the best candidates we have! And I do not like that prospect any more than you do! But they know their way around the outback and can protect me while we travel inland to set up a spot for the eco-monitors. Plus, they know me well enough that I would be safer putting my trust in them than any mercenaries out there. I know what I'm dealing with, I know what sort of dangers might be out there. But there are innocent people out there are dying, Winston. We have to help."

Winston stared her down. Mei stared back. Both adjusted their glasses at the same time.

Finally, Winston sighed aloud and leaned back in a gesture of defeat. "Well I can't have three of Overwatch's agents missing for too long. I can give you two weeks, Mei, but that's all."

" _Xièxiè_! I've already researched places where I can put the monitors and safe places for the beacons. Two weeks is…it's cutting it close, but I am sure we can do it. Erm. Winston, could you do me one more favor?"

"Two weeks is all I can-"

"No, that's fine. Could you just…call the junkers in and let them know officially?" She fidgeted slightly, scuffing the toe of one boot on the floor. "You know Junkrat. You know how he...ah...gets?"

The ape let out a rumbling chuckle, nodding before reaching for the microphone and flicking it on as his deep voice blared through the intercom. "Would agents Roadhog and Junkrat please report to briefing."

* * *

Several minutes later, Mei was leaning outside the door to the briefing room, tapping away at her phone as she prepared her notes and lists of supplies. The door popped open, and Roadhog's immense form bent over slightly as he exited, ducking his head from the doorframe and straightening once out in the hallway. The pig mask turned towards her, and the blank white lenses of its eyes glinted in the light. As usual, he said nothing, but a very slight movement of his head indicated a thoughtfulness as he regarded her.

She swallowed hard, shoving her phone behind her and nodding formally, head down. " _Nǐ hǎo_ ,Roadhog. I hope Winston has debriefed you on exactly how w- WAAA!"

She was cut off as a flash of movement launched out from behind Roadhog's giant form, a gangly set of arms, one flesh and one metal, wrapping around her and abruptly lifting her off her feet. Junkrat swung her about in a circle, giggling maniacally.

"Mei! Mei, darl, you don't gotta worry about a thing. Me and Roadie, we got you. You want to plant some doohickey on a whatever, I got your back. We'll keep the mongrels off ya, swear it." He shook her back and forth slightly before outright hugging her, his soot-covered face smushing against her once-tidy bun, seemingly ignorant of the hairpiece that was most certainly jabbing him in the ear. "We'll show ya how junkers really do it. Gonna have fun, you n' me."

Mei dangled from his grasp, looking to his larger bodyguard for help.

Roadhog shrugged.


	2. Chapter 2

Her hopes for an easy trip had died out about thirty seconds after she had finally managed to wriggle down from Junkrat's embrace. Smoothing the front of her sweater and adjusting her lopsided glasses, she swiped her finger across her phone, the holographic display flickering to life above it as she pointed to the continental map. "So as I understand it, the inner desert here near the remains of the omnium are where most of these storms are born. Putting an eco-monitor anywhere too near the core itself would just render it useless, but the closer we can get to this area here…" She pointed to a red circle on the chart. "This little cluster is the remains of a mountain. It'll provide at least a little shelter for the machines, and also put it at an optimal position for tracking gale patterns! I already have the perfect equipment, our most radioactive resistant- Is something wrong?"

Roadhog and Junkrat looked at each other, the latter of the two sucking on his gold tooth audibly as he shook his head. "Hooly dooly…that's walking the knife. Nobody I know's been that close to the core in years and you want to just waltz right in?"

She paused. "Well, no. I'm sure radioactivity is high there, but we'd only need to be there a few minutes, an hour at most, to set up the equipment. Unfortunately, we can't bring even the small dropship. The thermals and wind activity read too haywire. So we bring in a dropship as close as we can, leave it at a safe site-"

Roadhog chuckled abruptly inside his mask, and Junkrat looked equally amused. "Mei, darl, you can't just leave a dropship anywhere safe. If any junker within fifty miles catches sight of a dropship in the air, they'll be on the tail within moments. You could go take a minute's piss, come back to a torn-apart heap of scrap in that time. I should know, done it meself a few times."

Mei squinted at him, voice hesitant. "The…scrapping part, or the…pissing part?"

"Look, a lil' of column A, a lil' of column B, arroight? Point is, can't take a dropship inland or you won't have a dropship t'come back to. Parts like that are worth a bundle, it'd be ripped apart soon as you step off. What most folks do is schedule a drop on the coasts where they got guards and order and whatnot, then we'll take a roller in. Eh, probably have to use a van, can't fit all your weather junk and you and me in the sidecar. Oi Roadie, you think Bobbero is still around back in Old Perth? Might give us a van?"

Roadhog exhaled slowly, with a slightly painful-sounding wheeze. Then he shook his masked head indignantly. "I'm not driving a _van_ ," he rasped.

Mei tried to soothe her growing frustrations by trying to adjust her hair, resetting the pin her bun. Not even five minutes had gone by, and one of the very very few times she'd ever heard Roadhog speak, it was to refuse her.

Junkrat merely rolled his eyes, waving his metal had in a dismissively rude gesture. "Some fuckin' bodyguard you are, mate. Foine, Roadie will take point on his hog. Me and Miss Mei will take the van with all the weather junk."

"Er… _just_ you and I? In the van?" Mei frowned.

The gangly junker turned on them both, disbelief written on his face. "Does nobody wanna ride with me!? Ooooh, I see how it is, let's promise Junkrat a good time and then leave him behind! I don't wanna ride with Junkrat, noooo, me neither! Smells like a petrol station's toilet, that Junkrat! I'd never want to ride with-"

Roadhog turned his face away as though this was the thousandth time he had heard this particular rant, and it probably was. Mei jumped forward, lifting both hands plaintively. " _Hăole_! It's fine! Everything is fine! Mr. Fawkes and I will ride in the van, Mr. Roadhog can take his motorcycle, that is fine! I can prepare the equipment in the back since…I don't know how to drive anything with actual wheels, we always used hovers."

"I'll drive. S'all I'm good for, apparently!" Junkrat answered sullenly, arms folding and back hunching.

For a moment, Mei seriously considered marching straight back to Winston and reneging on the whole plan. Instead she took a very deep breath, held it, and breathed out again. "So we get this van from, what did you say his name was, Bobbero? We get Bobbero's van and drive inland from the coast? Will we be able to reach it in time? I'll need a few days here still to get everything sorted out. And we'd arrive in Old Perth? Ah…why not someplace closer, like Adelaide?"

Roadhog turned his mask's lenses on Junkrat in a very accusatory way, and the other junker shrunk down some. "Er…let's just say that me and Roadie best not be seen anywhere around Adelaide. Plus, Bobbero's an old truckie, and the only one I know who's good for giving us a working van worth a shit. Don't want you to be stranded out in the outback without a workin' vehicle, do we _ROADIE_? Not like all the times when that bike broke to hell and back and we had t-"

Now the two were glaring at each other, and Mei bodily shoved her way between them, spreading her arms. "That is enough! So we get Bobbero's van from Old Perth, and head inland towards the core, can you two get me there in one piece so we can set up the eco-monitor and then get out again?"

Roadhog grumbled and nodded. Junkrat rocked back and forth on his heel, childishly jabbing at Roadhog's foot with his peg. "It'll take a few days, and that's if the weather's clear. Roads are bad that far in, and we'll have to avoid some of the towns there. Er…not good places for a gal like you, darl, not good at all. We can get in through the south up through Coober Pedy, but fuck knows what's left of the old highways after that. Might wanna give yourself a few days each way."

Mei tapped at her phone once more, going through schedules and calculations in her head. "We'd better get started right away then. Winston is doing this as a favor to me, I can't go over the time limit, it wouldn't be fair to him. I'll schedule the ship to Perth and start getting the supplies together. Would you two just please, please…just try and make this as smooth as possible for us? No explosions, no murderous rampages, no arguing, no poking people with your peg legs." She narrowed her gaze at Junkrat, who withdrew his limb from Roadhog with a guilty look. "We are trying to help people. The sooner we can set this beacon up, the sooner we can access the monitoring systems and set up an early warning system to help people get to safety. We have a job to do."

"I'll be on me best behavior!"

Roadhog wheezed and nodded.

She gave them her fiercest and sternest nod before turning to leave. When she glanced back, Junkrat had launched on top of his bodyguard, his gangly limbs wrapped around him like a predatory spider and his eerily sharpened teeth sunk into Roadhog's arm, while Roadhog alternated between grabbing him by the hair and trying to pry him off, and punching him in the spine.

Mei felt another little tendril of doubt ripple through her thoughts. This was going to be even harder than she expected.

* * *

The days afterward passed far too quickly for Mei's liking. She spent nearly the entirety of every day cooped up in her room or the lab, testing and perfecting the radiation shields and running through any possible errors in the back-up radar's programming. They would only get one shot at this, and everything needed to be perfect. If the storms were even minutely as strong as the junkers proclaimed, this eco-monitor needed to be the hardiest thing she could possibly build.

On top of that, she was constantly needing to check up on the rest of the mission's paperwork. She'd had to break down the amount of supplies needed for each day, how big the containers of water would need to be for their trip, funding for the gasoline they would need to buy along the way, and cost breakdowns for each and every thing on multiple lists. Junkrat couldn't help, and Roadhog simply wouldn't help, and so Mei was feeling more than a bit haggard, and more than a bit resentful towards her would-be adventuring companions.

Roadhog at least had the good sense to vanish after making it clear he didn't want to bother with helping her. Junkrat, on the other hand, dogged her every step of the way. He had even volunteered to try and lessen her workload by filling out some of the cost forms, but Mei had later received an envelope with ' **REJECTED** ' stamped on the front and numerous question marks drawn around it. When she'd opened it, she found the forms filled out with seemingly random numbers, scribblings of explosions and fire, a stunted drawing of what looked like her, Junkrat, and Roadhog all holding hands, along with a piece of notebook paper that read 'BRING GOOD FOOD' in his telltale wild scrawl, and a grenade pin.

She had filled out the form correctly and sent it back in, but left the piece of paper about bringing good food. At least that was something they could agree on.

On the positive side, her work on the beacon itself was going well. By the time she could finally check it off the list, she had several sets of armored box-like devices that could monitor the weather whilst hopefully surviving the worst storms ever seen by mankind. With Winston's help, she'd even designed the solar supply and the tracking radars to withdraw and cover themselves at the first sign of errant winds, and if her calculations were correct, this would be a self-sufficient eco-station that could last for the next fifty years…if successful.

She had just finished putting away her welding supplies when there was a familiar metallic rap against her door. She sighed a bit tiredly, rubbing at the bags under her eyes before moving to open it. Junkrat was standing there with a food tray and a paper bag, smiling widely as he held them out to her.

"Figgured you'd be here still. Brought you a tucker-bag, thought you'd be hungry. Didn't know what you'd like, so I brought a lot."

She glanced to the clock, blinking owlishly. It was nearly two hours past her normal dinner time, and she'd barely noticed. Waving him inside, she cleared out a space on her desk for him to set down the food, rambling aloud. "Sorry, sorry. I guess the time got away from me. Thank you for bringing me something."

The tray was overflowing with apparent leftovers, from heaps of cold macaroni, to a pile of sausages, a tangerine, raw broccoli with what looked like a scoop of mayonnaise, a slice of pizza on a bed of rice, and a chunk of black carbon that was probably once toast. She decided to go with the pizza, brushing rice from the bottom before taking a bite. Junkrat invited himself right in, and before she could even protest, he had flopped down onto her bed, his soot-covered body likely soiling her newly-laundered snowflake printed blankets as he held up one of her pachimari stuffed toys. He squeezed it and it squeaked aloud.

"Huh, Roadie keeps a whole bunch of these. Never figgured out what it was. An onion? A turnip? A milk drop?"

She sputtered a soft laugh around her pizza, coughing a bit to keep it down. "Milk drop?"

"Is it?"

"No, no, it's an onion. An onion-octopus. I don't know, it's just very cute."

The junker stared at it suspiciously before tossing it back towards her pillow. "Yeah, I guess. Dunno what Roadie sees in these things, meself. Blimey, you got a comfy bed. Hope you're makin' good use of it?"

"Ah…I um…"

"Ya know, getting good rest before we head out? Won't be no soft snowflakey beds out where we're goin'."

"Oh! Right, yes. I've been so busy trying to get everything ready, I really should try to get some sleep soon. I have to be up early to double-check everything before we leave, and then pack up the ship…"

"Ship's already good n' packed, darl."

She paused, halfway through peeling her tangerine. " _Shén me_? What's that?"

"Well, I saw you were looking a bit wonked, so I grabbed Roadie right on the ear and I said 'Roadie! Mei's looking right wonked, we gotta help out!'"

Mei smiled gratefully at that. "What did he say?"

"I uh, I ain't going to repeat to you what he said. But we put all those supplies into the crates and packed everything up in the ship. Got some extra water too, never can be enough of that out there. Finally got through to Bobbero too, he gave me some problems, some words were exchanged, but we got a van waiting for us when we get there. We can set right out, no muss, no fuss. So you can, ya know, you said you wanted to help folks."

He stared at her like a dog that was trying its very best to be good for reasons it didn't fully comprehend, and Mei found herself giving him a little smile despite herself. "Ah, thank you. Thank you and Roadhog as well. I appreciate any help I can get. At least I can sleep in a little bit tomorrow before we head out. And we are going out to help people. So we can _all_ help people, Mr. Fawkes."

"Uh, roight."

They stared at one another for a beat, neither understanding the other, before Junkrat bounced up from the bed, leaving behind an ashy gray imprint where he had been laying. "So! You eat that and then head on to bed, Roadie and I will finish up at the transport, and then right she'll be. I'll, er, I'll see you in the morning, Mei."

She bid him a good night and watched as he slouched down out of her entryway and skulked down the hall, closing the door behind him. She finished a few more bites of her extremely strange meal, poked her toast to see if diamonds had formed at its carbonized center, and then pushed it aside before throwing on her night shirt and collapsing into bed.

It was still warm out and she didn't even bother to get under the covers, grumbling slightly as she found herself laying right in the spot where Junkrat's ever-present soot had sifted down onto her blanket, but not really caring enough to move. She fell asleep with the smell of it in her nostrils, and dreamed of sand and fire.

* * *

Junkrat and Roadhog had kept true to their word, and had packed the ship. True, their idea of 'packing' looked a bit like a bomb had gone off, with things sticking out of crates, duffels, and even plastic grocery bags, but somehow they'd managed to make it all fit with some semblance of order.

Mei had placed all her precious weather gear into a separate crate, which was loaded into the back with more care, before clambering into the cockpit where the pilot and the junkers were waiting. Roadhog was already quietly reading a magazine while Junkrat fidgeted impatiently beside him, waving to her when she entered.

"You ready, darl?"

"As ready as I'll ever be. I'm looking forward to gathering valuable data on this mission."

"...Roight."

The door shut behind her with a whoosh, and with a roar of the engines, the ship hovered upward, slowly gaining altitude above the base. Then it shot forward, with nothing but blue skies and wispy clouds ahead. Mei felt a little thrill in the pit of her stomach, a potent mixture of excitement and nervousness, but a welcome change to the boredom of before.

They were off to the outback.


	3. Chapter 3

The flight over had been mostly uneventful. Junkrat has passed out asleep several minutes in and drooled all over his own shoulder, Roadhog worked steadily through a stack of magazines, and Mei busied herself with more last-minute calculations and scenarios for the weather patterns so close to the derelict omnium. She even struck up polite conversation with their flight captain, who informed her that Australia's errant weather patterns were very well-known amongst pilots and required special training to approach. This was further cemented by the increasing turbulence that started bumping their plane in increasingly severe jolts in the air, despite them still being over the ocean, until the pilot politely requested Mei go back to her seat so he might concentrate. She spent the rest of the flight strapped in her seat and riding out the random dips and drops of their flight, while wielding off the now-awakened Junkrat's offers to 'comfort her'.

Their ship finally maneuvered above a landing pad on the coast of Old Perth, and Mei hurriedly gathered up her things and unstrapped herself, waiting impatiently in front of the door…until it abruptly hissed open in front of her and she recoiled and stepped back. It was like standing in front of a still-burning oven. Heat and sunlight poured over her like a molten, living thing, and she could practically hear the crackle of her skin drying out under its onslaught. It had been too long since she'd visited a desert, especially one so specifically severe as this. She lifted one arm against the light and backed up straight into Junkrat, who inhaled deeply and beat his scrawny chest.

"Ah! Smell that, that's the smell of home! That's the smell of 'Straya. Come on, Mei, can't wait to show you around!"

He grasped her by the arm and started to pull her out with him, and she found herself being bullied out the door from behind by Roadhog's protruding gut as the junkers urged her down the ramp. She paused by the bottom, straightening her glasses as her eyes finally adjusted to the sun and she gazed around at her first views of Old Perth.

She was surprised and perhaps a tiny bit disappointed to see how normal it was. Other than the heat, it appeared to be a very regular shipping area. There was a large amount of red dust about, especially around the bases of the ugly, boxy utilitarian buildings, but it all seemed quite run of the mill, save for the amount of grizzled and sunburned guards bearing guns standing at nearly every corner. The technology around her seemed to be a bit outdated and battered from the weather, perhaps, but there the streets seemed clean enough and the area was bustling with foreigners, albeit no omnics. Nobody even shot a glance their way as their pilot and Roadhog started unloading their cargo onto the bay floor. Mei had a feeling that the local populace knew very well not to threaten the incoming traders and supply ships by now. Junkrat had mentioned that the shipping ports were the only places with any semblance of order, even if it was a quiet and threatening kind of order.

"Well, time's tickin', let's you and me go find Bobbero while they keep an eye on the junk. Not to worry, Roadie will keep it sorted, and the guards don't much give you trouble if you keep your head down. Stiiiill, we probably better shoot through sooner than later," he turned his head away from a passing port guard, pretending to scratch at his nose, before heading off into the crowd.

She was busy trying to tie her jacket around her waist, finding it already soaked with sweat, before scrambling after him. "Hey, wait for me!"

* * *

The further away they got from the main drag by the coast, the buildings got shabbier and further apart and looked more like the junker towns that Mei had first imagined, piece-meal structures with bits of scrap and metal tacked on to guard against the blowing sands. Hovercars gave way to actual old wheeled vehicles from years long gone by, and she saw fewer guards and more common citizens…who seemed to be getting more and more naked as well, forgoing shirts and pants and often wearing little more than shorts and sandals. Despite the fact that the junker who was guiding her along was wearing much the same, she still had to fight the urge to look away out of some admittedly old-fashioned sense of modesty.

One of them, a boy who could have been no older than ten, with bronzed skin and a missing front tooth, came running along beside her.

"Miss! Oi, miss! Spare a dollar? I'll take your picture for you? Buy a candy?"

Mei was no stranger to child beggars and as pitiable as they were, she knew better than to pull out her wallet for one. She tried to smile and wave him off, shaking her head. "No, no, I'm fine, thanks. No, have a good day. _Zhù nǐ guò yīgè hǎotiān_."

She was still trying to shoo him away when Junkrat, who had lagged slightly behind her at some point, suddenly came charging forward with both fists raised, stomping his boot down in the dust. "Oi! Rack off!"

The urchin, finding himself faced with nearly 7 feet of junker rage, scuttled to a safe distance but still close enough that he and Junkrat could yell at one another, shouting in a lot of fast-paced Australian slang that Mei couldn't begin to translate. She had grabbed onto Junkrat's arm to stop him from going after the kid, when she saw a flash of metal in the child's hand as he turned and fled down a nearby alley. Even then, it took her a moment to realize that he had been hiding a knife.

"…Was that child about to rob me?"

"Yeah, probably. Saw him about to go for it and came runnin'. He probably thought you were a tourist…which, I mean, you are, but you're _my_ tourist. Heh, the little fruit loop had balls to try it though, this close to the main."

"Well, at least you scared him off so it didn't go any further. Hm…I haven't even been here half an hour, and a child tries to mug me. I hope this doesn't set the tone for the rest of the trip."

Junkrat guffawed and offered her one of his wide grins. "What a welcome, eh darl? Don't worry, I'll keep us on the right track. Speakin' of, Bobbero's shop is just up ahead."

They rounded the bend and found a rather dilapidated looking brick building that served as a mechanic's station, surrounded by a metal barbed-wire fence and several sentry turrets. Numerous roller vehicles sat inside; old motorcycles, cars, RVs, trucks, and even an outdated tank all sat baking in the sand lot. Closer to the actual shop, a car was held up on jacks and a male form in black oil-stained overalls was only half-visible beneath it. Dark fluid was running from the engine of the old roller, which Mei supposed was a bad thing and was what the mechanic must have been fixing, a chorus clanks and scrapes of metal on metal echoing from the work going on, nearly drowning out the music that was crackling and sputtering from an extremely old and extremely filthy 1990s boombox radio.

Strolling right up to the car, Junkrat brought his metal hand up to bang it twice on the side of the hood. "Oi, Bobbero!"

The man below yelped in surprise and jolted slightly, banging his head on the metal below with a clunk. Mei winced, and Junkrat laughed uproariously. A moment later the mechanic man rolled himself out from under the still-leaking automobile. He was a large dark-skinned older man, with a salt and pepper beard and a ragged looking skullet. Like Junkrat, he was missing one of his arms, but instead of a replacement hand, sported an apparently homemade tool-switcher where his forearm used to be, the mechanical devices whirring as the wrench tip was removed and a hook hand slotted into place. He was glaring daggers at the other junker as he rose, wiping his remaining hand off on his filthy overalls as he regarded his two visitors.

"Well, looks like I got an appointment to keep," he growled, adjusting his back with an unhealthy-sounding crack. "Guess you two cunts finally dragged your arses in after all."

Mei's jaw tightened, chin wrinkling. She knew the slur was interchangeably used as both a derogatory word and a fond one in this place, but it surely did not sound friendly. "Excuse me…"

"You're excused. So you're the girly Fawkes was talking about." Bobbero eyed her up and down, pulling a cigarette from his pocket as his tool-switcher flicked away his hook hand and was briefly replaced with a lighter, setting it aflame as he inhaled. Mei paused, looking between the two, but they did not seem to notice or care that smoking around the oil and gasoline-soaked mechanic shop was an obviously bad idea. He continued on, "Usually this dill and his big mate just want repairs on that motorbike of theirs. First time they've ever asked me for a van. But, can't really blame you for not wanting to cram in with him in the sidecar. What business has someone like you got in the inland, anyway?"

Junkrat merely leaned back on the jacked-up auto as casually as he was able, which wasn't very. "Weeeell, you know how it _goes_ , Bobbero. Like I told you, me and Roadhog, we've gone legit. And this foine lady here, she's one of the higher-ups in our new agency. She's a real class act, we're gonna need the best of the best of what you got, hear?"

Mei really did not feel like a 'class act' of any sort. She had already peeled off her hoodie at first arrival and was left in a rumpled tank top with an embarrassingly visible sweat stain in the middle of her bosom, her face was red and glistening from adjusting to the searing heat, and her bun was limp and sliding off to one side with wisps of damp hair sticking out all over. Still, she drew herself up as properly as she was able, and bowed her head politely. " _Ni hao_. My…friend…said you might have a reservation under his name? If not, my name is Mei-ling Zhou, I probably had accounts payable t-"

Bobbero held up a hand to cut her off, waving her away. "Nah, I got your friend's van all ready. So long as he brought me the stuff."

"The stuff? I wasn't aware there was any _stuff_ we were bringing…" She shot Junkrat a look, but he was already prepared with a placating grin, pulling the heavy pack off his back and dropping it with a thud. For a moment she had a horrifying expectation for the bag to be filled with pills or bundles of unidentifiable powder or other unsavory items, but though she'd heard of the two junkers robbing banks, blowing up vaults, and generally sowing mayhem and destruction, she'd never heard of them drug running.

When Junkrat opened the bag, she was relieved to see that it was filled with candy; all sorts of candy from all over the world that he must have been hoarding from Overwatch's pantry for weeks. Winston had always set aside a little stipend in the budget to keep the sweets supply running, including his peanut butter habit, and to help content in particular, as 95% of her diet was made up of processed sugar. Mei could see the familiar Korean characters on some of the chocolate bars and other candies inside, purloined from the stash. Junkrat was known for playing for fire, but it must have taken guts to steal candy from Hana Song.

Relief flooded through her as he held up a handful of confections, to prove that he had indeed gotten 'the stuff'. Mei sighed audibly, placing a hand to her sweaty chest and giving him an understanding nod. Okay, stolen candy to help bribe a junker for a working van was something she could deal with. It was almost, dare she say, sweet.

It was less sweet when Bobbero smiled approvingly, and Mei saw that what remained of his teeth were so rotted and yellow and speckled with black that she almost winced. The last thing this man needed was candy. But Junkrat was already sliding the bag over to him, and he picked it up with a nod and slung it over his broad back. "Now that's fine. Import taxes here are murder and fewer supply ships are bothering with perishables. Getting harder and harder for me and the wife to get our fix. Okay, you were good for it, van's out back."

She meekly followed after them, with Junkrat strutting beside her with a puffed-out chest. "What'd I say, darl? Got all this under control. Just stick with ol' Junkrat."

Bobbero led them to one of the side lots, the cameras up on the sentry turret poles following their every move. The van was an ugly, boxy-looking roller, with traces of blue paint that had mostly been scraped away by years of blowing sand, leaving the rusty green and brown metal bare beneath. It was also riddled with bullet holes and one of the mirrors was held on with tape, but neither Junkrat nor Bobbero seemed to be bothered so she opted to keep silent. The older man snared the door handle with his hook and heaved it open, and Mei peeked inside to see it was equally shabby inside, with the seats in the back all removed, the cracked plastic on the sides was repaired with more tape, and there was a suspicious brown stain on the floor that probably coincided with the bullet holes.

The two junkers were chatting and laughing, and Mei decided to get to better look at the inside, placing a foot up to climb inside, when she felt a familiar pair of hands suddenly encircle her waist and pull her back.

"Junkrat, what have I said about the _grabbing_ thing! Just because people are smaller than you, that does not mean you can treat them that way!" she chided, pushing him away as he set her down on the ground.

"Just wait a minute, love. I just wanted to check…" He urged her a step back, then approached the van himself, rubbing his chin. After a moment's cursory inspection, he tentatively lifted his peg leg, leaning back as he slowly poked it into the van first.

There was a loud beeping noise that Mei recognized immediately as a sensor, before a small beam of light appeared on the metal rod that served as his foot. Immediately afterward, there was a loud metallic bang that sent her reeling, as Junkrat stumbled backward and fell on top of her. Her ears were ringing and adrenaline surged through every part of her as she scrambled to aid him, rolling on top of him and ready to see him wounded and bloody, but found him only slightly dazed as he blinked up at her. She followed his gaze, and saw a shotgun hanging from a string, swinging back and forth in the doorway, where it had gone off and blown a hole in the back of the van from its position just over the doorway, where it had been poised at head-level. An actual, archaic shotgun trap?…

The lanky junker sat up slowly as she slid off of him and they turned to face Bobbero, who was grinning widely with his rotted teeth on full display. Junkrat lifted an arm as if to go for his grenade gun, but just pointed at the oil-stained man, finger shaking back and forth as a similar manic grin spread across his own face and the two began laughing wildly, peals of hyena-like shrieking mixing together and doing nothing for Mei's still-frazzled nerves.

"Ooooooh, Bobbero! Ya almost got me!"

"Maybe next time, cunt."

Hopping up off the ground and leaving Mei sitting dumbfounded in the sand, Junkrat hobbled over to the van and began casually undoing the remains of the shotgun trap, still chatting animatedly with Bobbero, who was just leaning nearby on his newly-damaged van. Mei heard none of it, busy trying to calm the trembling in her legs as she managed to stand. She wasn't sure exactly what she had just witnessed, but it seemed to be some sort of murderous junker tradition that they had just completed without her knowledge.

Junkrat tossed the shotgun into the back of their newly-acquired vehicle, whomping Bobbero fondly on the back several times before jabbing a thumb over his shoulder. "Oi, Mei, I'm gonna go sign the paper and get a coffee with Bobbero before we go pick up Roadie and the gear, want to come with?"

Mei shook her head, voice coming out far more shrill than she meant. "No! No no, I'm okay! Thanks! I'm just…going to sit out here for a bit, I think."

Bobbero and Junkrat looked at her as though she were the odd one, before shrugging and trundling off back towards the main shop.

* * *

Mei swallowed and waited until they were out of sight before pulling out her phone, speaking into its recording device in her native Mandarin. " _Day 1. Arrived in Old Perth, Australia for Operation Eco-Outback. I have been here approximately…forty eight minutes. A child has tried to attack and mug me, and our vehicle dealer rigged a trap but failed to kill my guide with a shotgun. Paid for the van partially in stolen candy. No sign of errant weather yet, but I am learning a lot about junker culture…Winston, if I make it out of here in one piece, please remind me to apologize to you later._ "

She tried to hit the button to stop recording, but found her hand was still shaking slightly.

She had gone into this project hoping for an adventure. It seemed she'd found it.


	4. Chapter 4

They had left Bobbero waving goodbye and smiling his rotted smile, a half-eaten chocolate bar already in his hand. The van smelled of spilled gasoline and mothballs and lacked air conditioning, and Mei could feel her poor bare skin sticking to the hot leather of the seats as she leaned her head out the rolled-down window for some semblance of a breeze. Junkrat seemed impervious to the heat, sporting a pair of borrowed sunglasses as he slouched in the driver's seat, one arm dangling from the window and the other only half on the wheel as he leisurely steered them back to the main drag.

"Ya know, darl, if we get your weather thingy set up and get back into Old Perth with time to spare, I can really show ya around. We can uh, y'know, do things what proper ladies like to do? Go to the cinema, karaoke, ice creams, bowling…"

Mei stifled a little laugh, pressing her lips together. "Bowling is what proper ladies do?"

"Oh! Ya like bowling, then? Okay, we'll go bowling, maybe have some barbecue made by yours truly, and there's a great boba place I know you'd like, over on the southside."

"That…sounds nice and all, but we really should concentrate on the mission. We only have one chance to set this up once we get into the red zone, but just think of all the people we can help if this warning system is utilized properly!"

"Of course, but Bobbero recommended this great cafe…"

"I meant to ask about that, actually. About the part where Bobbero tried to kill us."

Junkrat chortled. "Nah, love, he's got no reason to kill ya, that little set-up was meant for _me_."

" _Zhè méi yǒu yì yì_! He was trying to murder you! And I almost climbed into it too! That doesn't make me feel any better."

"Nah, don't fret your lovely head. It's just a little game we play, me n' him. I've almost gotten him plenty of times. There was this one time, I hid a grenade in his outhouse during the night and-"

"This all sounds incredibly dangerous, I don't understand how you can see killing each other as a game!"

"Well nobody's died yet. And I'd never let anything happen to ya. Bobbero's a fun bloke if you give him a chance, and he says that this cafe is just the tits."

"I think we should just focus on our objective, Junkrat. We have a lot to do and people are counting on us…"

"Well…yeah, I guess. Still, maybe if we get the time." He looked briefly disappointed, but was distracted as he pulled back into the landing bay. "Oi, looks like Roadie's got everything sorted."

The ship had already taken off after unloading, leaving Roadhog sitting primly on top of a crate and quietly reading his magazines, standing vigil over their pile of equipment. As the van pulled in next to him, he gave a little wave with one enormous gloved hand, the metal crate groaning in relief as he heaved his weight up off of it. The trio spent the next half hour transporting and sorting piles of supplies, as well as strapping down Mei's precious equipment crate into the back of the van. Roadhog also wordlessly took a portion of the food and water rations for himself, tamping them down into sidecar of his motorcycle, where Junkrat normally rode. As an afterthought, he rubbed his masked chin and then pulled a very dirty pachimari toy from one of the packs, using a rope to make it a makeshift seatbelt as it sat on top of the boxes, smiling cheerfully.

Junkrat looked vaguely insulted. "Oi, mate! Can't just hand over my spot to one of your milk drop plushes! That's _my_ sidecar!"

Roadhog gave him a rude gesture in reply and squeezed the pachimari so it squeaked.

Mei had paused to examine and photograph his vehicle as well, having never seen such a rustic thing still in use. 'The hog' was an impressive machine, an eclectic mixture of chrome and scavenged metal. The enormous junker patted it fondly, though avoided letting himself be seen in any of the shots.

"I like the pig motif," she said, pointing to the little metal swine head by the front wheel.

"Thanks."

"It's very cute. Look at the little noses!"

"…Thanks?"

* * *

Roadhog led them out of Old Perth, with Junkrat's van following not long after. The main city's drag once more gave way to sparser and grungier buildings, then to tent cities made of temporary settlements of cloth and metal, and an entire fleet of RVs that seemed to last for miles, set up at plugging stations on cracked pavement and dirt lots. Junkrat claimed that a large portion of Australia's normal citizens lived in them, traveling from town to town to look for work in a purely nomadic existence, moving along in herds that were protected by other more heavily-armed vehicles and choppers as they fought to avoid being preyed upon by enemy junkers or rogue desert scavengers. He explained cheerfully that it was incredibly dangerous to travel alone outside one of these fleets, which was exactly what they were doing, but was confident that he and Roadhog could hold off an army if need be.

They stopped only once at a filthy petrol station on the very edge of Old Perth's territory, where they filled their vehicles with the last round of non-emergency gas, and where Junkrat demanded to buy an entire box of packaged beef jerkies. Mei politely asked to use the bathroom, did so, returned to the van with a very shellshocked expression, and didn't say anything for the next hour as Junkrat chewed on his jerky and sang along to their crackling radio station.

Eventually, all signs of civilization vanished from the horizon, and there was nothing but the long stretch of cracked and sun-baked highway before them. Junkrat continued howling along to some horrible mid 2040s rock song and Mei leaned her chin on both arms on the window and watched the landscape go by. The land was flat and grayish brown, dotted by sparse areas of scrubland and stunted, often-broken trees struggling to grow against the arid winds. Occasionally she saw the pitiful and picked-over remains of homesteads, little remaining but piles of old bricks and hunks of useless metal, usually surrounded by collapsed fences and rusted barbed wire, and the occasional bleached bones of long-dead cattle. The sun continued to beat down on her and she wondered idly how anyone could live here without the wonders of sunblock and thermally-cooled water, as she was lucky to have. She knew it was just grumpiness at it being such a long day, but a part of her thought it was amazing anyone could live here at all.

"Beautiful, isn't it? S'good to be home!" Junkrat crowed, his sunglasses glinting in the light.

They rode on for hours, the van bumping and clanking as it hit every dip and crevice in the pavement. The landscapes all began to blur together until it was two flat surfaces, the blue of the sky and the red of the earth, and then black as Mei's eyes closed despite herself, rocked by the creaking of the van as she drifted off for a nap.

* * *

The brakes screeched and the van shuddered to a stop, and Mei was jolted awake as her eyes opened to the still-harsh late afternoon sunlight, straightening quickly as she adjusted her glasses and looked to Junkrat for an explanation. But the lanky junker was staring straight ahead, golden eyes dilated and intent. She looked forward as well, where Roadhog's bike was idly belching smoke where it too had paused. He lifted a large black-nailed hand and signaled something to his partner, and Junkrat nodded, reaching behind his seat and taking hold of his grenade launcher.

"Junkrat? Mr. Fawkes, what is happening?"

"Roadie says there's a spike trap up ahead. Oooo, looks like this one might be manned. Could do with a bit of action, was starting to get bored shitless."

Mei reached behind her seat as well, to the bag with her cryo-gun and its tank. "Do we need to fight? If we can avoid fighting..."

"Stay in the van, darl, keep the engine running. Might need to just blow through these whackers and then we'll be on our way."

"Hey, wait-"

Junkrat ignored her and climbed out of the vehicle window, squeezing his lanky body through, his grenade launcher slung casually over his shoulder as he loped forward to join Roadhog. Mei clambered in her seat to get a better look at the situation through the dusty windshield. Her two junker companions were facing down five…no, six other men, standing in front of a line of motorcycles. They were also junkers, if judging by their looks alone. Several of them had missing or bionic limbs, missing eyes or ears, covered in mechanical-themed tattoos, with dust cloths over their faces and bearing ancient-looking bullet machine guns. One of them, a wide-shouldered man in a black vest who was almost as tall as Roadhog himself, stood in the middle of the road, just ahead of a strip of vicious-looking metal spikes to prevent them from passing.

Black Vest lifted his gun in a little mock-salute as he spoke, with Mei straining to hear him from inside. "Welly welly well well, I woulda thought two junkers like you gents would know not to go riding alone. It's dangerous, hasn't anyone ever told you that?"

The men behind him chuckled. One of them moved towards the van, but Roadhog calmly stepped to the side to block his path with a low and threatening rumble. Junkrat was twitching visibly and was smiling again; the too-wide too-manic battle grin that Mei never liked seeing. He was already starting to fidget with his grenade launcher with one hand, eyes darting from target to target.

"Well," Black Vest continued. "I'm sure ya know how this goes then. You and your mate are gonna drop your shit and stand over there, while we we go through your van. And then we're gonna- Oh lookit that, you got a friend in there! Who's the cute l'il shiela?" He perked slightly as he saw the top of Mei's head peeking wide-eyed over the dashboard.

"OI! You so much as set one eyeball on her, I'll shove me peg so far up your arse, it'll come outta your mouth and point at the sun! I swear it, I'll-" Junkrat took a step forward with a snarl, only stopped by Roadhog's giant hand encompassing his bony shoulder to keep him at bay and push him back.

There was the clatter of metal as the men raised their guns, two of them starting to sidle towards the sides of the vehicle in well-practiced flanking movements. Black Vest sneered, chuckling at Junkrat's creative threat barrage. "Tell ya what, if you cooperate, I won't blast your gal's brains out all over the side of your shitty van. Sound like a plan? Now step the fuck to the side, before I start losing my patience. Lower whatever the fuck you got there or-"

"Excuse me! Sorry! Excuse me, please…" The door of the van creaked slightly and the men jerked to attention, guns pointed towards it. Mei lifted both hands visibly as the door swung open and she scuttled out, arms raised. " _Qǐng wèn_! Sir!"

Black Vest curled his scarred lip, gesturing for his men to ease. "Guess Girly here wants to make sure her boyfriend doesn't fuck this up for her. All right, step forward beside Fatty there."

Mei stepped forward, up just behind Roadhog. "Sir, please listen! My name is Mei-ling Zhou, I'm here on a good-will mission to help the people of Australia, on a scientific expedition on behalf of Overwatch. We don't want any trouble, we just want to go through!"

Roadhog tilted his head imperceptibly upward, then glanced down at the much tinier woman beside him, nodding.

Black Vest seemed disinterested. "Overwatch. Yuh-huh. Ain't heard that one before. All right, shut the fuck up. Boys, crack open that charity van, sounds like it might have some good shit-"

"Please! It's just science equipment! We don't want to fight! If you will just listen-"

Black Vest lifted his gun and took a step towards her. "I said _shut the fuck up_! Now you gone and d-"

" _Dòng zhù! Bùxǔ zǒu_!"

Many things happened all at once. Junkrat leapt forward with a shrieking laugh, only to have his bodyguard's thick arm wrap around his scrawny waist and yank him backward. Junkrat swung through the air with a vague look of surprise, body trailing limply as Roadhog swung him up and over…and unfortunately slammed him right into Mei, sending both of them crashing to the ground as he shielded them both, Black Vest's gun cracking off several shots right into Roadhog's meaty side in a spray of red and a grunt of discomfort.

A small adorable pastel-blue drone bot dropped down from the sky above them, positioning itself directly over Mei and her protectors, fins whirring as its dispensed its payload of heavily concentrated cryo-freeze agent to mist rapidly over the entire group of attacking junkers. Their adversaries barely had time to lift their guns as they found themselves faced with a veritable blizzard out of nowhere, the vapor sweeping over them and hardening near-instantly into thick sheets of ice. Mei's Snowball bot had aimed well. It had left a clear circle around Mei and her friends, but the icy storm encompassed the enemy junkers and froze them to the spot. They wore expressions of frosted shock, stuck in various states of action as the world turned dark and cold very briefly…before Snowball sputtered and emptied with a little coughing sound and a burst of snowflakes, floating there amongst the now silent and ice-covered statues.

Roadhog rolled off his companions after a long moment, revealing the very squashed forms of Junkrat and Mei nearly flattened against the pavement. The two groaned and peeled themselves up off the ground, Mei rubbing her head ruefully as they all looked to the frigid human-shaped sculptures around them.

Mei's sigh of relief was interrupted as Junkrat moved to finish the job, lifting his grenade launcher. "HahaHA ha! Ha! Great idea, Mei! You freeze 'em, I'll burn 'em!"

She leapt forward to grab onto his arm. "No!"

"Mei-"

"They're neutralized! We just want to get through, we're not here to kill people!"

"Are you bonkers! That's not how we do things here, they're not neutralized until they're _neutralized_!"

"I said no!"

"Well _I'm_ saying otherwise..."

"T-that's an _order_ , Junkrat!"

" _What?_ "

She stood in front of him, hands on her hips, and stared him down before jutting an arm out towards their motorcycles. "If you want to blow something up, blow those up! That way they can't follow us when the freeze wears off! But nobody has to die!" Her voice cracked slightly, but she thrust her chin out and glared as fiercely as she could. "I-I am still in charge of this mission! _Qǐng tīng wǒ shuō_. That is an order. N-now please dismantle those bikes while I go check on things, because I think Roadhog might be hurt…"

Junkrat leaned down to her level, back bending as he brought his wild golden gaze to stare her down as well, his pupils mere pinpricks of black against unnatural yellow-orange. For a moment, Mei thought perhaps she had gone over the line. Technically correct as she could be, she wasn't sure how Junkrat would react to being directly challenged and ordered. But before she could bluster anything more, his bushy eyebrows lifted in seeming surprise at her tenacity, before standing straight and turning away. "Yeah, arroight, you go check on Roadie."

Roadhog had already moved to his own motorcycle, sweeping ice off his sidecar and starting to duct-tape bandages over the bleeding bullet wounds. Mei rushed forward, but before she could even start to fuss over his wounds, he waved her away and shook his head. Lifting a yellow canister to his mask, there was a hiss of air and a sickening wheezing noise, before his posture slacked and he seemed to suddenly relax with a low moan that made Mei very uncomfortable. But it seemed to do the trick, as the gushing blood slowed to a trickle, to be staunched by the now-reddened gauze. He nodded down to them, then gave her a thumbs up.

 **BOOM BOOM BOOM**

She winced as the volley of grenades ripped through the metal of the other junkers' unfortunate motorbikes, spraying the surrounding desert with shrapnel. Junkrat seemed to enjoy himself at least, dancing back and forth on his booted foot and then his peg leg as another of the bikes went up in flames. He spun about in a seeming dream state, shoving more grenades into his launcher.

" _Who'll come a waltzin' Matilda, my darling! Who'll come a waltzin' Matilda with me!"_ he sang aloud, voice creaking and that maniacal grin back on his face.

 **BOOM**

Another half-frozen motorbike went spinning away into the air to crash land in a burning heap.

Roadhog and Mei moved the strip of spikes off the road, to be tossed into a nearby ditch. After that, the larger junker pried his bike wheels off the frozen ground and kickstarted it back to life, roaring off ahead down the road to check if there was any more trouble, leaving Mei and Junkrat to clamber back into the van. Mei was already mournfully ticking away at Snowball's control panels.

"The first day and I've already had to use one of my cryo-packs. I hope we can find time so I can reload everything…Junkrat, don't eye them like that, no running anyone down. Let's just be on our way. Nobody will follow us."

Junkrat nodded cheerfully, and Mei supposed his strange lust for fire and blood had been at least partially sated by his task of exploding the bikes. "Nah, you're right, darl. Good thinking with your whole…icy thing, that thing you do. Brrrrr, still feel a little chilly myself. But that might be from you gettin' all up in my face, ordering me about. Kinda liked it…"

She scrunched her nose. "Don't joke. I was put in charge of this mission, and I want Operation Eco-Outback to be a success. We all have to work together."

He nodded plaintively. "No joke. You're the boss, boss. Not to worry your beautiful head, I blew up them bikes right, nobody's going to be following us for sure!"

"Yes, I'm very glad everything worked out."

He abruptly turned the radio on to blaring, much to Mei's annoyance, before pointing to the road, "Oi, what's that?"

She focused, but saw nothing but the dust trail of Roadhog's bike ahead. "What's what?"

Junkrat grinned and started chewing on another stick of beef jerky as the radio continued its deafening tunes. "Just up ahead there? See anything?"

* * *

Far behind them, the ice had just started to begin to melt despite the intense heat. Black Vest was twitching ever so slightly within his frozen prison, and was just starting to be able to move the tips of his fingers. His cronies were in a similar state, and there was silence save for the far-off crackle of burning metal and the soft breeze against the sand…and a foreign and steady ticking noise that suddenly started up by his feet.

 _Tick tick tick tick tick_ …

Black Vest's eyes darted downward, catching sight of the unassuming metal-spiked concussion mine that had been left seemingly dormant in the sand nearby, an egg timer faceplate now ticking merrily away at its center. Despite the veil of ice over his vision, he could just make out the numbers as horror started to dawn. He tried to scream. Nothing came out.

3…2…1…

* * *

"Junkrat, I don't see anything?" Mei shielded her eyes and peered ahead.

The roar of the radio continued, drowning out the very faint boom behind them. Mei was still peering ahead at the horizon before them, never catching sight of the red explosion of sand from where they had just left. Junkrat snapped off another bite of his beef jerky, subtly glancing at the mirror as the explosion faded away into the wind.

Mei sat back in her chair once more, looking baffled. "What?"

Junkrat smiled and offered her the half-bitten piece beef. "That's real strange, I coulda _sworn_ I saw somethin' up ahead. Eh, guess it was nothing. Well, darl, sit back and get comfy and we'll try to cover some ground before it gets dark out, yeah? I want to put some distance between us before we think of setting up camp, ya know? But I got a good feeling, hehehe. I got a feeling we got nothing to worry about after all."


	5. Chapter 5

The burning yellow of the sun finally began to dip below the western hills, turning the sky into a vivid palette of red, dotted with wispy orange cloud vapor. Mei sat watching the light turn from red, to purple, and then to a deep blue as the hateful ball of fury finally retreated below the horizon. It was almost as though a curtain were being drawn. Nearly as soon as the sun finally set, the heat started to abate and the relative cool of the night set in, turning the temperature from 'roasting alive in an oven' levels to 'slightly less unpleasantly sweaty'.

Junkrat cursed as he tried flicking the van's headlights on. One of them was completely dead, and the light on his side barely lit up a few feet ahead of them.

"Piece of junk! Arroight, end of the line!" He beeped twice, and Roadhog's motorcycle revved from up ahead of them in answer. "Pulling over into the divot. Won't hide the van completely, but hopefully nobody's running the roads tonight anyway."

Mei grabbed onto her seat with both arms as he abruptly swung the van off into the hard sand, kicking up clouds of dust into her window as they bumped and jostled their way behind a shallow lump in the earth that wasn't really fit to be called a hill. Finally they creaked to a stop as Roadhog pulled his bike up alongside them, and the engine seemed to hiss in relief as the key turned and their strange little group finally concluded their first day in Australia.

Junkrat grunted and stretched in his seat, spine uttering a disconcerting series of pops before he slithered out his window and dropped onto the ground and promptly began to perform a series of makeshift calisthenics, joints squeaking audibly. Mei preferred to leave by way of the van door, but was similarly stiff from being stuck in an uncomfortable seat all day and found herself stretching in much the same manner. It really was nice to get out of that seat. The padding had worn out and squished down who knows how many years ago, and she had spent the last several hours becoming more and more aware of a sharp spring that kept poking her in the left bun. Roadhog watched them both for a few moments, but then merely twisted his neck from side to side with a sickening crack. That was about the only stretching he seemed willing to do.

"Oi, should we get a fire going? Give Miss Mei a proper Aussie cookout experience for her first night out?" Junkrat called cheerfully, rooting around in his oversized backpack once more.

She shook her head. "I don't think we should risk having a big fire. We've already had enough trouble for one day, don't you think?"

Roadhog nodded, spreading out a ragged blanket across the sand and setting up their tiny camp stove. Mei flicked on a small lantern, then went to dig through the supplies in the back of the van. She didn't like to think of what they might be eating if she hadn't insisted on a generous supply of ready-made meals and protein bars. She'd heard rumors about the average junker diet, which included everything from average supplies stolen from the coastal settlements (which was very likely), to the local heavily-irradiated wildlife and mutated insects (also very likely), all the way to cannibalizing human flesh from enemy groups (which didn't seem as likely but something she couldn't entirely rule out either).

Junkrat raked a hand through his hair, rocking back and forth and grumbling audibly, "Can't believe it, it's not a proper night out without barbecue. Come on, when you go travelin', you eat as the Romans eat! What do you say? Bet I can catch us a nice goanna, and then we can toast it and roast it proper. It's finger-lickin' good, Mei!"

Mei frowned back at him, already hauling out the box of Overwatch-issue MREs. "No thank you. I am a vegetarian."

The junker looked as though he had just taken a bullet through the chest. "A ve….A vege…"

"Vegetarian. I try to just…I avoid meat if I can. Besides, you can still barbecue tofu, so if you ever want-"

"Tofu!?" Junkrat dramatically let his knees go limp and dropped to the ground, draping his lanky body across her lap as she sat down. "Tofu! Roadie, she says y'can barbecue _tofu_!"

Roadhog chuckled.

She scowled and pushed Junkrat off her lap and onto the ground. "I will have you know that _dòufǔ_ has always been a very important ingredient in Chinese cuisine! Besides, it takes on the flavor of whatever it's cooked in so a lot can be done with it, and even though modern meat-farming practices have improved, it's still ecologically unsound and can-"

"Foine, okay, foine. Tofu. Uh…okay. We can work with this, you and me. We'll try to cook up some of your…bean cube things, if that's what you want. I'm sure I can make somethin' with it. Or we can still go out and have a great meal together. Even a vegetarian one…Tofu, though."

She held up the box of instant meals. "Well, luckily for you, it seems tofu is not on the menu tonight anyway…Ugh, it doesn't look like they got the memo about sending us the good food."

She left Junkrat and Roadhog to fight over the contents of the box while she began unwrapping her own, a beige vacuum-sealed package that just read VEGETARIAN MEAL on the side with no clue about its contents. Struggling to pry it open, she finally pulled out a few crackers, a moist wad of noodles with unidentified green specks, a shrunken pastry of some sort, and a boxed juice.

The only saving grace to the unappetizing looking meal was that none of it required cooking, so she wouldn't have to join the battle going on over the little stove. Junkrat seemed to have won, stretching his long, long form so he was holding it just out of reach of his partner, who finally sat back down with a defeated grunt. Mei tried not to show her interest, but she had never seen Roadhog eat before. He had always carried a tray back to the privacy of their own quarters. But out here, there was no such thing as privacy. Would he have to remove his mask? That was the only way to eat, wasn't it?

As if sensing her curiosity, Roadhog turned to eye her, the delicate little straw of his own juicebox thrusting up through the bottom of the pig mask to whatever lay beneath, emptying it with a rattling sipping noise. She flushed slightly and pointedly looked down at her sticky mess of noodles. When she looked back up, Roadhog had regained control of the camp stove and had dismissively turned his back on them both, hunching over his own meal. The mystery would remain unsolved for now.

Junkrat was busy tucking into a packet of chili macaroni, which stained his chin as he scooted next to her once more. "Ya know, it's not half bad. I mean, it's not half good, either. But I've had worse. You uh…you care for a swig of milk tea? Half sweet?" He shook his belt flask back and forth temptingly, liquid sloshing inside it.

Mei eyed it. The vile chemical taste of the MRE was still heavy on her tongue, and after a moment she nodded and held out her hand. She was quite fond of a good boba tea herself, although a sun-boiled day-old boba held in a junker's suspicious flask was a different story. Still, anything would be better than the foul aftertaste of those noodles. She unscrewed the top and allowed herself a little sip. To her surprise, it wasn't half as unpleasant as she'd been expecting. A little warm, true, but the sweetness of the drink tingled on her tongue, and he had even included miniature pearls of tapioca. She had another gulp, perhaps a little larger than was polite, then moved to pass it back to its rightful owner.

"That was…actually very good. Thank you. But, where did you manage to find honeydew-flavored bubble tea anywhere out here?" she wondered aloud.

He preened a bit, chin jutting forward and grinning his goofy self-satisfied grin. "I brew it meself. You gotta get the high quality stuff, the powders and tapioca bits and the type of not-really-milk that don't spoil out here. Comes at a premium, but the coasts can get it in, and then you just find the warehouse with the stuff in it and KA-BLOOIE, you're on the run with months worth of the stuff in the sidecar with ya, and Roadie's yelling something about it not being worth it so you yell back at him, and then the cops are yelling at both of ya, and you think they might not try to shoot at you over stolen tea but then it turns out they will…" He rambled on, his eyes glazed as he went off into some fond memory again.

Roadhog snorted derisively from nearby, his back still turned to them as he started in on his third packaged meal. Apparently he was not as fond of the adventure as his employer.

Mei pushed her glasses back up her sweaty nose and eyed him thoughtfully. "Mr. Fawkes, you…you are unabashedly _yourself_."

"I dunno what that means, but arroight. And you need to stop calling me Mr. Fawkes. Mr. Fawkes was my father's name. I mean, I'm assuming it was. I mean, he must have been. I never knew the guy, whatever. Full name is Jamison Fawkes, but you, you can call me Jamie." He offered the flask out to her again. "Want to finish it off, darl? I don't mind."

She offered him a little sheepish grin, shoulders hunching as she accepted. "Well…It does taste pretty good. Thank you, Mr. F- Jamie."

Roadhog, apparently finished with his meals, abruptly stood up and hitched at his sagging trousers before rumbling, "I'm going to go take watch."

They watched him go until he was well beyond the dim light of their camp, and Mei took another sip of her tea before turning back to Junkrat. "Is he actually taking watch or did you somehow ask him to leave us alone?"

Junkrat's eyes widened and darted about, body wiggling from side to side as he wrapped his arms around himself and bit his lip, unable to muffle his shrill giggles. "Oh I ah…uh er…Ha! Haha! I dunnooooo!"

Mei gave him a flat look. "Jamie."

"Okay, foine! Hooly dooly, you're a canny one. Sharp as a razor, one of the good kind too. I mighta let slip to him once or twice that I was hoping I would actually get to talk to you. It's never been just us two, you know? When we're out on missions we're all working in teams, or I'm bashing about with Roadie, and on base there's too many nosy neighbors, then you were so busy and tired leadin' up to the trip, and then you didn't want to even pal around with me here…Come on, Mei, I'm mad for ya. What's wrong with wanting to know you more? It's just talking."

"What would you even want to know about me?" she asked cautiously.

"Anything! Anything you want to tell me. And don't try to say you're not interesting. You're the smartest gal I've ever known, and the most gorgeous! Okay, you don't like meat, that's a point off… but you got plenty of other points to make up for it; you're a genius and you're beautiful and you got amazing tits and you smell nice all the time, and I like the way your lip goes out when you're mad, and how you get real concentrated when you read, and that little smile you get when you look out the windows and it's raining out, and how you keep all those glow in the dark stars on the ceiling above your bed, and how much you blush when someone compliments you, like now…"

Mei's face had gone fire engine red, lips pursed and her glasses fallen halfway off her nose again. She wished she had her coat on, so she could sink down into it and never come out. "W-well…I…"

Junkrat scooted closer to her, expression hopeful. "Come on, darl. You can tell me anything. You can even tell me to fuck right off, if that's what you want. Just…gimme something. Anything."

She shook her head quickly, adjusting her hair over both ears. "Junkrat, er, Jamie. No, no, I'm not going to tell you to ah…fuck off, as you put it. Sorry, I don't like cursing. Honestly, I guess I've just been so concerned with this mission, and I suspected you had rather a crush on me but-"

"You _suspected_?!" he guffawed.

"I suspected it but I guess I never knew what to make of it. I've had a few boyfriends but never anything very serious, and then you come along and you're just…you're just not what I was used to. I know we didn't get along very well at first-"

"You called me a no-good bully," he sighed fondly.

"You _are_ a bit of a bully, though! And you just say things. You just say things when you think them and you're a very intense person. It's not what I'm used to."

"Is that bad?"

"I never said you were bad…I think sometimes you've done bad things, but that's just the life you've lived out here. But I think there's a good person in you, a very good person. And not just to me. I've seen how loyal you are to Roadhog, what good friends you are…don't make that face, just because you call him your bodyguard doesn't make him less of your friend. You make Lucio and Hana laugh a lot. You protect your team to the death on the field…And…" She bit her lip, redness fading from her cheeks. "There was that time a few weeks ago when we were playing Monopoly and I was the banker and you were the only one who didn't try to steal the paper money when they thought I wasn't looking. I was keeping an eye on you but then McCree did it, and Genji, and even 76! 76, of all people, stole my Monopoly money! But you didn't."

"I've stolen from plenty of real banks. But I'd never steal your board game money, darl, that's too much even for me. If that's not respect, tell me what is!"

"But you do say very outlandish things. You can't just tell me right to my face that my…you know, my chest…that they're nice."

"What, your tits?"

"Yes!"

"But your tits are fantastic! The best I ever seen! You're the best I ever seen!"

"Jamie, _āi ya_!"

"Foine, if you don't want me complimenting your absolutely stunning rack, I'll find plenty nice to say about the rest of you. Come on, I'm not too bad a guy, for a bad guy. Misunderstood, maybe. Just got to give me a chance. But no matter what, Mei, we'll get your mission done and we'll get it done proper. I'm with ya to the end."

She could no longer hide her smile, and elbowed him lightly in the ribs as he grinned at her and scootched ever closer, until he was right by her side and she could feel the heat radiating off him at close range. He gave her a nod, then leaned to stretch his peg leg out, his lanky form reaching easily across the length of the blanket, tapping against the little camping lantern before managing to flick the switch and turn it off. "Oi, thought you might like this too…"

Mei squinted behind her glasses as her eyes adjusted before looking upward. The outback was one of the few places left almost completely uncolonized still on earth. There was no civilization for miles, no lights, and nothing to dull the vista. It was a magnificent and deep royal purple-black, speckled with too many stars to count, and she could see the soft dust-like clouds of the Milky way, stretching across from horizon to horizon. Occasionally there was the flicker of rapidly-moving light from the satellites criss-crossing their paths around the earth.

She sat there, alone with Junkrat and billions upon billions of stars, completely encompassed by the night sky. She could do nothing but look up and feel very warm and very small. It had been so long since she'd seen such a sky. Even in her more remote adventures, there was always the far-off glow of the cities or the haze of light pollution. She hadn't seen a sky like this since…well…not since she'd woken up alone in Antarctica. An involuntary shiver passed through her at the thought.

At least here, she could enjoy its beauty and know that this time she wasn't alone.

Mistaking her shudder for chill, Jamie glanced down at her and then very slowly went to swing his arm up and over, his metallic hand coming to rest on her other shoulder as he pulled her in against the heat of his body. She paused, adjusted her shoulders against the alien weight of the arm across them, then very hesitantly leaned up against his side, starting to relax…

"I guess..if you still wanted to talk, maybe we could-"

* * *

"Are you two done? I'm going to bed."

The lantern abruptly flicked back on, held aloft by Roadhog's immense hand, the light illuminating him in a very terrifying way as the eyes of the pig mask gleamed yellow against the night sky.

Mei moved quicker than she thought was possible, out from under Junkrat's arm and already halfway into the van, muttering apologies and face flushed red once more. "Oh! Um, yes yes, everything's fine! I'm going to get changed and then…I guess we should all get some sleep and prepare for a big day tomorrow! I have my sleeping bag set up in here! Good night! _Wǎn'ān_!"

 **SLAM**

A stunned Junkrat sat with his arm still propped up over a person who was no longer there. He looked down at the empty space, then to the closed van door, then up to Roadhog.

Roadhog stared back at him, blank lenses somehow apologetic.

Junkrat's teeth grit audibly, scraping so hard he could almost feel shards of them grating away. He picked up the mostly empty flask of tea where Mei had abandoned it in her haste to retreat, unscrewing the top and sipping the last few drops, letting his lips linger where hers had been. Then he gave his bodyguard a positively venomous glare. "Roadie…you're me best mate, through and through, but you got no idea how fuckin' _dead_ I want you for that one."

"…Sorry."

He clicked off the light.


	6. Chapter 6

Mei had hoped that her exhaustion from her first day would lead to an easy sleep, but she had lain awake and restless for much of the night, nodding off at random intervals and awakening for no apparent reason. She tried to tell herself that it was the still unpleasantly warm night, or the stress from dealing with her first gang of brigands, or the strange feeling she got in her gut when remembering Junkrat's offers to 'talk'. She tossed and turned atop her thin sleeping bag, squeezed between equipment on the floor of the van, wishing she was back outside under those stars, with the coolness of the night and the strange chill of that metal arm across her shoulders, but…

Her eyes cracked open again, bleary and crusted with sleep. The accursed desert sun was already streaming in through the open windows, and the van's temperature was starting to rise back up to boiling levels. With a moan, she groped blindly for her glasses and slipped them on before changing into a fresh tanktop and dousing herself in deoderizing spray, wishing it was a cool shower instead. She did sneak a little palm full of water from her canteen, splashing it across her face with a sigh. That was a good as it was going to get.

She heard voices outside. There was Roadhog's occasional deep rumble, Junkrat's higher-pitched and fast-paced chattering…and another voice she didn't recognize. She rolled the door van open, shielding her eyes from the onslaught of light, just in time to see an unknown man with wild-looking dreadlocks and a heavy backpack start away from their camp, holding what she recognized as a few of their MRE packets in one hand.

Roadhog's enormous gloved hand moved in front of her, and she grasped onto it to hop down, legs still weak from being crammed into her coffin-sized sleeping area all night. She landed with a little dusty thud, taking a step after the mysterious stranger. "Who was that?"

"Walkabout. He's a walker," Roadhog explained, pig mask nodding after said walker.

"What is a walker?"

Junkrat was looking a bit more put-out than normal, unfolding a tattered map across the blanket and cursing at it loudly as the wind caused its edges to flutter back up. "Exactly what it sounds like, love. They walk. Don't use autos, they just walk. Don't see 'em around as much as you used to."

"What's wrong with walking?"

"Gotta be careful with walkers. Some of 'em are all spiritual about it, they walk everywhere because that's just how they are. Look, I dunno why, maybe it's religion or whatever. They walk to one side, they get there, then they turn around and walk back. Fuck knows. Some of 'em are walking because they got kicked out of the junkers…and darl, you don't know the type of person it takes that even junkers don't want 'em. Luckily our boy there was the first type. And he was coming from where we're going. Traded him some of those shitty food packets for some shitty news. Oi Roadie, think the van can risk using one of the washout roads?"

Roadhog shook his head.

Mei looked between them, still confused. "So, what was the news? You don't look very happy."

"Walker said there's a breeze going through the valley up ahead."

"Well that'll be nice!"

"Nah, love. Breeze is bad. Sometimes the red storms, they leave all that red dust behind 'em, the bad kind. So all that dust settles on the sand down in the valleys, and then you get a little breeze going. But it ain't enough to blow it all away, just enough so it hits the valley wall and then circles back in again. Just enough breeze to keep it airborne. Can last for fuckin' days too."

Mei was typing excitedly into her phone. "I have never heard of this. So, breezes are lowland pockets of airborne radioactive dust?"

"Yeah, sure. And the walker said the whole valley's breezing, it's choked with the stuff. And the roads besides the main highway are either shitty dirt trods, or it'd take near a whole two days the long way around," he grumbled, metal finger tapping the map. "So I'm thinking we'll just have to put on the masks, cover the shit in the van as best we can, drive on through, and hope it don't break down in the middle. Roadie's hog can make good time on the outer roads though, not like this hunk of junk. Uh, I was thinking…maybe it would be best if you rode with him. Can tuck you down in the sidecar with his stuffed packimacki toys or whatever's in there now, would be safer for you."

Mei frowned, wiping her glasses on the front of her shirt thoughtfully. She didn't like the idea of Junkrat setting off alone into a valley full of deadly radioactive grit, in a half-broken down van, carrying their precious science equipment, and doing it all as a favor for her. She coughed a bit, pretending to study the map with him. "Well, I think it would probably be best if I stayed with the equipment. We can't…risk losing it, after all."

"You sure?" He gave her a hard look, seemingly genuinely concerned. "Once we're in, I'm flooring it. Can't back out."

"I'm sure."

"Wish you'da chosen Roadie, but arroight. It's our funeral. Welp, let's get a move on! Get your brekkie down, it's gonna be a fuck of a day."

* * *

Mei sat on the tire of Roadhog's motorcycle, spooning oatmeal from her ready-made breakfast as she watched Junkrat spread the blankets and tarps over everything inside the van, testing air vents and stuffing cloth into bullet-holes, while talking animatedly with his bodyguard. This was going to be a new experience. She'd never heard of 'breezes' before in her studies, and the usually devil-may-care Junkrat's fear of them spoke volumes.

The larger junker loped over to her, breathing heavily inside his pig mask before asking simply, "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, Mr. Roadhog, I am. I'm scared, but I'm sure. We need to make sure the equipment gets through safely."

Roadhog snorted down at her. "…The equipment."

She felt somehow chastised, gaze turning to the ground before admitting, "I don't want to think of him going alone in there. Because of a mission I wanted to do. It wouldn't be right. I'll go with him, and try not to slow anyone down."

At that, he reached out, palm flat, and gave her two very gentle pats on the head, smushing her bun in the process. She gave him a confused squint, but he merely gestured for her to get off his bike. When she did so, he hauled his massive weight over the seat and revved it to life before turning the wheels in the sand and roaring off down the dirt road.

 **BEEP BEEP**

Jamison was waving his arms from the van, "Oi, Roadie's off! Arroight, the junkbus is leaving, let's get going!"

She scrambled back towards him, climbing in and settling herself in over the blanket on her seat. The van sputtered to life, and off they went down the road. Roadhog's bike led the way, until he waved one thick arm and abruptly split off onto a narrow red dirt path that was so faint she wouldn't have recognized it as a road at all. She distantly realized that they were headed up a very slow and slight incline, passing by a sign that was so riddled with rust and bullet-holes she couldn't even make out the name of the place.

"What do I need to know, Jamie?" Mei fidgeted uneasily in her seat, her gaze drawn to the partial bleached skeleton of a long-dead cow on the side of the road. That was a poor omen.

There was a thud on her lap, and she looked to see her hoodie and a raggedy brown gas mask. Junkrat had already latched a similar mask to rest on the top of his head, wrapping himself with the camping blanket from last night in a makeshift poncho. "It's simple enough. You put those on, make sure the windows are up and the fans are off, and try to keep the dust off ya when it wafts in, because it's gonna waft in. You make sure to breathe deep and slow in these things, yeah? Hyperventilatin' won't do anyone any good, you'll just overload the rebreather thingy. And no talking once it's activated. Other than that, you keep calm and let me drive us on through."

They drove onward and upward, until finally they crested the top of the hill. Down below was the afflicted valley, a bowl-shaped scoop in the earth that was shrouded in a visible red haze. Just as Junkrat had described, she could see the dust and sand particulates on the move, rushing in cloud-like motions, rippling so thick through the air that she couldn't see the other side of the valley where it might end. It looked almost like fog or smog, but was such a viscerally alarming color she'd never seen before. Everything about it screamed danger.

"All righty. Remember what I said. We'll just drive on through, have ourselves a pat-down on the end, everything will be great and you'll be fiiiine, haha-hahaaaaa." His usual manic laughter seemed somewhat half-hearted, fading away at the end. He was nervous. Junkrat paused, worrying at his lip before turning on the radio. It crackled and popped, tuning in and out, but the noise seemed to soothe him somewhat. With that, he tied his poncho tighter around his shoulders, and pulled the mask down over his face with a final inhale as the windows rolled up and the vents closed.

Mei removed her glasses and pulled on her coat, even flicking the hood up as she brought her own gas mask up and strapped it on. Activating the pullcord, it sealed uncomfortably against her face. For half a moment she was overwhelmed by the stench of old leather and someone else's sweat and the lack of oxygen, before she took in a deep rasping breath and it sprung into action, the filter rattling by her nose and mouth as she gasped in a stale, stinking mouthful of oxygen. She could only hear the faint drone of the radio, drowned out by the echo of her breathing and the blood rushing in her ears. Worst of all was how she could barely see. The lenses were old, the glass fogged and cloudy, and she had to focus hard to make anything out, made even harder by the lack of her glasses. She wanted to claw this awful thing off her face, stop it from blinding and suffocating her. Her world became an ordeal of dark blurry shapes and strangulation, and despite her best attempts, she could feel herself starting to breathe harder as she fought against panic.

A heavy grip landed onto her shoulder, and she turned to see Jamie's fuzzy shape peering at her through his own masked features. She placed a hand to her chest to try and stifle her rapid heartbeat, the other groping blindly towards him. The fingers of his metal hand found hers, clicking lightly as they wrapped around her smaller ones and gave a reassuring squeeze. He leaned out of his seat, and lowered his head to gently place his masked forehead against hers. It was a gesture of comfort she found she desperately needed, and she focused on her breathing, like he had said. Breathe in…breathe out…breathe in…

She nodded to him after a few moments of this, and he nodded back before releasing her hand to take the wheel, to focus on the task at hand. The van rolled forward, and started to descend into the deadly valley below.

* * *

The breeze was aptly named. It was windier than she thought it would be, but not so windy as to be a true storm. Instead, it was just mild enough to kick up the clouds of choking red dust and sand, sending billions of little granules to pelt against the windows, rattling against the panes with a hush that was softer than rain. It also took little time for it to interfere with the radio signal, and after it became nothing but the warped sound of static, Junkrat irritably slammed a fist into the dials and turned it off, leaving them with nothing to listen to save the rattling engine, the hiss of the breeze, and their own breathing.

She'd rarely seen him so focused before, literally on the edge of his seat as he stared through the red vapor, every fiber of him intent as he traced out the shape of the road and kept them going steadily ahead. They were going through the remains of what she thought might have been a village. If she squinted, she could fairly make out the shapes of abandoned houses and cobbled-together buildings, and a steadily spinning metal windmill that creaked eerily over the whistling winds.

The van still sputtered and made disconcerting noises, and Mei tried not to think of the horror of the very real possibility of breaking down in the middle of it all. And despite all their preparation, she began to see the faint haze of orange inside the vehicle as well, seeping in through every minuscule crack or opening it could find. There was already a fine layer of dust on her lap and the tops of her thighs as she sat, a fine, glistening sheen of poison. She tried not think about that as well. With nothing to see and nothing to hear, she tried to focus on her breathing once more.

Breathe in…breathe out…breathe in…breathe out… _bark_ …breathe in… _bark bark_ …

Bark?

Her eyes opened behind the foggy lenses. Junkrat hadn't reacted and for a moment she thought it must have been her imagination, but when she pressed her masked face to the window, she heard it again. There was barking. There was a dog. She couldn't believe it, but there was a dog. Out in the red breeze, between the shapes of what she assumed was a half-broken picket fence, a blurry smear of movement as the little dog squeezed through and stood barking on the side of the road.

She lashed out, grabbing Jamie by the arm and pointing to her window, but he furiously shook his head, tapping his ear. He'd heard it too, but it was clear he had no intentions of stopping.

The barking continued, harsh and high-pitched and desperate, and Mei heard the scrabble of claws at her door, trailing down the van as the dog tried jumping up. She hissed in a deep breath, grabbing at Junkrat's arm, shaking it and knocking on her window, but he pointedly shrugged her off and shook his head again. No. She pressed her eyes to the window as much as she could as Jamison sped up, watching the desperately running shape get further and further away in the dust, though the barking continued. It was following them. It was trying to follow them and they were going to leave it behind…

Her fingers found the handle to the door. She pulled it open and jumped, and was immediately enveloped by the breeze.

* * *

She landed hard, her feet rolling from under her as she fell end over end, righting herself a moment later with a bruised moan. The wind felt far stronger than before now that she was out in it, the blowing sand scouring against any exposed skin and her vision nothing but red. Worse still, she was fairly sure the mask wasn't suited to being directly out in such a thing, and she could feel grit enter her mouth and nose as she breathed in.

The barking got closer, and the little dog ran up to her with a loud whine and the jingle of metal tags. She grabbed it up into her arms, grasping it protectively against her chest as it whimpered and scratched for hold, trying to lick at her masked face. She turned to start back to the car, and found that she could no longer see it. She searched for anything, a landmark or the glow of the brake lights, but saw nothing, just scorched earth and red air. Still hugging the dog, she trudged blindly forward, and hoped it was right, coughing as she inhaled another mouthful of grimy dust.

A shape emerged from out in the breeze, tall and lanky, and there came the all too familiar feeling of Junkrat's arms encircling her waist, grabbing her and lifting her aloft, carrying her in the opposite direction she'd been heading. The van stood waiting, both doors open, and the junker irritably kicked it further open and rather roughly tossed her inside, slamming it shut after her. Dashing around to the driver's seat, he leapt back into place and fought with the door against the wind, finally shutting it as well before he jammed his foot on the gas and they pitched forward once again.

Mei straightened herself from where she had tumbled onto her chair, the filthy little dog squirming in her grip, tail wagging wildly. She kept a tight hold of it, almost crushing the poor thing to her as it whined aloud. Junkrat turned and thrust a shaking metallic finger in her face in a very angry and accusatory way, but drew back when he remembered he had no way of speaking his very obvious displeasure, instead gripping onto the wheel so hard it started to dent inward.

They drove on like that for what seemed like ages, until they hit another incline and started to drive upward once more. The van climbed slowly up the road, passing through several hills before they finally shot free of the breeze. It was like curtains being parted. One moment their vision was nothing but red haze, the next they were out in relatively clear air. Junkrat jerked the van off the road a bit further on, tires screeching as they came to a stop.

The mask was ripped from his face, his eyes were practically glowing yellow, and she could have sworn even his hair was more alight with rage.

"WHAT. WERE YOU. FUCKING! THINKING! MEI!"

Taking that as a signal for the all-clear, she reached up to pull her own gas mask off, rolling down the window as she leaned out and coughed violently, red particles erupting from her mouth and nose. Dirty ichor ran from her nostrils, and she inhaled and spat several times onto the ground, choking in fresh air.

The little dog was not helping matters, standing on her lap and barking wildly at the enraged junker.

"You shut up, you fuckin' bitzer! I just saved your worthless hide! Just a waste of poisoned meat, you are!"

She finally turned back to them, eyes watering as she pulled on her glasses and the world came into focus. The dog seemed to be a scraggly terrier mix of some sort. It might have been white at some point, or gray, or maybe black? It was hard to tell, as filthy and covered in dust as it was, so it was just red. It also seemed to recognize its benefactor, propping its front paws on her chest as it tried to lick at her face, pausing only to yap and growl at its other less friendly benefactor. She grabbed it by its collar and looked at its tags in hopes of finding a name, finding one that where someone had carved BUDDY in capital letters.

She coughed again, massaging her throat as she croaked out, "We had to help him."

"Oh-ho-ho, we did _not_! S'just a dog, and it's a goner either way. You near killed yourself for a half-dead mutt."

"His name's Buddy. He needed help, we couldn't leave him behind like that."

"Just started trompin' off in the wrong fucking direction in the middle of a fucking breeze…all for a goddamn dog. And I said to shut up, you goddamn dog!"

"He was going to die!"

"So he woulda died, so? Mei, I could've _lost_ you! Dog, I said to-"

"No!"

He lifted both hands as if to throttle the still-barking Buddy, but Mei glared and pulled back protectively. The junker uttered a snarl of frustration, then turned and threw the door open, hopping out as he started to beat the dust from his poncho and shorts. She set Buddy down and slid outside as well, pulling off her coat and trying to clean herself of the foul grit as well, retrieving her comb to pull it out of her hair as she splashed more precious water across her face. Junkrat was refusing to speak to her, muttering to himself and apparently still angry as he set about pulling the tarps and blankets off the equipment, shaking them clean as well.

Buddy seemed to be in good spirits at least, shaking himself off repeatedly and trotting after Mei wherever she went. He seemed to be wheezing a lot, and mucus was flowing from his nose steadily as he licked it away, but he seemed as cheerful as any dog could be. She wondered as to how he'd gotten there. How long had he been there? Could a dog survive for very long? Was he hiding somewhere relatively safe? Perhaps when the breeze had hit the valley, the people there had fled and Buddy had gotten left behind? Perhaps he had simply been wandering through and had gotten trapped in the remains of the town when the winds hit? Were there other dogs, or perhaps even people, still hiding? Whatever his history, Buddy was not telling.

She wordlessly helped Junkrat clean the inside of the van over the next few hours, until he popped the hood of the vehicle and bent over the engine, starting to clean and tinker with the machinery there as well. Mei sat on the stoop of the open van's cargo area, Buddy laying next to her and sneezing repeatedly all over her pants.

"I'm glad that we were able to get through that. I never knew a breeze could be so awful," she remarked aloud, in the same conversation-starting tone she'd been using for the past similar remarks she'd tried.

"I guess Mr. Roadhog is used to wearing one of those awful masks all the time? No wonder he seems so grumpy sometimes."

Just like the last times, there was no reply, and she found it disconcerting how much Jamie's silence could hurt. She had never known he was even capable of silent anger. It would have been better if he'd yelled at her like before, or maybe set off a few explosions, or just…anything.

Buddy grumbled as if sensing her distress, and lay his head on her lap with a huffing noise. She smiled down at him, though the expression didn't quite reach her eyes.

"It's all right. It's going to be all right."

Sometime later there was the distant roar of an engine, and Roadhog came rolling up as the sun was setting once more. He grunted as he dismounted, adjusting his back with a pop before looking down in wonder as Buddy came scrabbling up to him, wagging happily.

"…You have a dog," he observed.

"His name's Buddy. We found him in the breeze. Jamie said I shouldn't have picked him up, but-"

Roadhog had started to lean down as if to pat the creature, but drew back sharply as she mentioned where he had come from, yanking his hand away. "Oh. He's right."

"I couldn't leave him there!"

"Hm."

"He needed help. He was barking and it was so dusty outside so I went out there and I… I know it was dumb, okay? I know I messed it up, but I had to do it. I couldn't leave him to die like that. And now Jamie won't even talk to me. It's been hours. Maybe…you could-"

"No. Not my place."

He shook his head and meandered off, and Mei bit her lip, fighting off a sniffle of frustration and anger.

Roadhog refused to let the dog near him after that, explaining patiently that the animal had already been poisoned by the breeze. She spent the rest of the evening trying to clean Buddy despite his wriggling, using up her own ration of water to wash him off and comb the red from his fur. By the time she had finished, he was a much more presentable brownish-orange. The junkers still refused to go near him.

She ate alone that night. Junkrat and Roadhog set up their normal camp outside, and Mei sat eating her cold MRE packets inside the van. She tried to feed Buddy some of the meatloaf she found in another pack, but he had wolfed it down only to immediately throw it back up again. He seemed to be lagging more and more as the night went on, and when she finally set up her sleeping bag and went to settle in for the night, he curled up next to her and immediately fell asleep.

* * *

Her eyes snapped open. It wasn't morning yet, only the yellow-gray light of the false dawn sifting through the windows. But she was awake. There was a cold and dreadful feeling in her, and she fumbled for the lantern and snapped it on.

Her face contorted and she let out a strange, reedy little muffled noise from her throat, escaping through clenched teeth.

Buddy lay at her side; his body cold, and the floor and her sleeping bag freshly stained with red-brown blood that had seeped from his jaws and nose. He must have died earlier in the night.

She sat there and looked at him for a while, tears squeezing from her eyes, but eventually she wiped them away and stood, pulling on her clothes and fetching one of the extra blankets. She pulled him onto it, fighting not to recoil at the stiffness of the body from the rigor mortis. Folding it over and wrapping up her gruesome package, she rolled open the van's cargo door and slipped out.

The noise attracted attention as both Roadhog and Junkrat sat up sharply on their bedrolls.

Junkrat wiped at his eyes groggily, giving her a confused look. "Uh…whatsit? Mei?"

"Do we have a shovel?"

"Huh?"

"Do we have a shovel."

"Uh, don't think so?…"

She turned and walked out into the desert carrying her blanket-wrapped bundle, until she came to a sizable-looking boulder. Dropping to her knees, she set Buddy aside and started digging at the sand with her fingers, but found that it was far harder and rockier than she had assumed, and they soon began to hurt.

The familiar _k-thump k-thump_ of Junkrat's peg announced his presence as he loped up behind her, standing for a bit as he watched her dig, his gaze darting from her to the heap of blanket.

"Is that uh, that's the dog? That's the Buddy, yeah?"

" _Shì._ "

"Body's poisoned. S'best not to touch it."

"I'll try."

"…Need help?"

She shook her head and continued to dig, but had to stop when the rocks scraped her fingers and several had opened up and started bleeding. It wasn't really a grave, not even a hole in the ground so much as a shallow divot, but she placed Buddy into it all the same, tucking the edges of the blanket in under him and placing his collar on top. There was nothing else she could do, so she left him under the rock and took a few steps back, followed closely by the wary Junkrat.

He stopped when she stopped and she looked at him with a rather torn expression, not really crying but on the verge of it. "Sorry. For earlier."

"S'okay."

"I couldn't help him after all."

"I think ya still did, darl. Ya gave him a few good moments. More than I woulda done."

"I shouldn't have risked it. But I did."

"What's life without a few risks, ya know?"

"Jamie…"

Her voice cracked and he was upon her all at once, leaning down to embrace her. Much to her credit, she still didn't cry, though she let loose a few less-than-dignified burbling noises as she buried her face against his shoulder. He just stood with her, tucking his chin over her head and stroking his metallic fingers through her hair, waiting until she finally drew back, wiping at her eyes with her forearm before replacing her glasses. Wrapping an arm around her back, he started leading her back towards their campsite.

"Come on, I'll make ya one of them cruddy oatmeal packs ya like so much. Your favorites are those strawberry ones, roight?"

"Thank you, Jamie. I apologize for the early morning. It's…it's not what I wanted to happen."

"Shit happens. Sounds like you're gonna need some disgusting boiled coffee too, gives you a pick-me-up if you can get past the taste. Hey…" He leaned down to nuzzle the top of her head fondly. "We'll keep going forward, darl. You might not be able to save 'em all, but you're a real fireball underneath all that icy exterior. You'll keep trying. We're going to get you where you need to go, and we're going to make sure this don't happen to more folks, just like you said."

She nodded up at him and he unlooped his arm from her as they returned to camp, where Roadhog sat waiting. Junkrat immediately started rattling about with the pans and stove, and Mei sat down with her arms wrapped around her knees.

The giant junker turned his masked visage down to her, reaching out to gently taking one of her battered and scratched hands, inspecting her bleeding palm. "You all right?"

"I'm okay. Buddy died, so I buried him. I did what I could."

"Mm. Did you talk to Jamison."

"Yes. We talked. We're going to get an early start this morning. We've got a lot still to do. Keep moving forward."

Roadhog reached behind him, a box rustling before he turned back around with bottle of antiseptic gel and a tiny ~ _Hello! Pachimari!~_ print band-aid held delicately between two fingers, taking her hand and applying them over the worst of the cuts. She gave him a little smile and a nod of thanks, before a bowl of oatmeal was thrust into her hands and Junkrat and Roadhog promptly started to fight over who was going to get the waffle meal and who was going to get the pancake one.

Mei sat watching them, still ruminating on all that had happened. She might have failed Buddy, but it had been a kinder fate than if she'd never tried. She had gone into this knowing it was going to be hard. She knew the outback was going to be a ruthless land, filled with dangers she wasn't prepared to deal with on her own. But she still had her companions there to support her. There were still millions of people here that could use their help.

Junkrat was right. She couldn't save them all.

But she still had to try.


	7. Chapter 7

Junkrat returned from the other side of the van, re-buttoning his shorts and adjusting his belts. "Piss break, last chance!"

Mei didn't even glance up from where she had been going through her phone's files, holding up a bottle of clear liquid and waving it from side to side. "Hygiene."

The wiry junker rolled his eyes, protesting aloud with a "Tchuh! Really?" but cupped his hands together anyway as Mei doused him in sanitizer. "Been wipin' my ass without sanitizer for years and I've been fine, ya know."

"Jamie, just…no. I understand not wasting water, but we're _all_ making concessions about our cleanliness levels here, please meet me halfway."

He grumbled and scrubbed his hands together, wrinkling his nose at the chemical smell before flinging them off. "Ugh. Lemony fresh."

They had stopped on the side of the road, in the middle of another large flat expanse of rocky outback desert. The early afternoon sun was brutal enough that Mei had finally relented to tying a rag over her head for fear of her hair simply combusting into flames, and sweat was streaming steadily down the layer of brown road dust that had caked onto her face from the open windows. She was perspiring so much that it was washing away the protective layers of sunscreen sprays, and she was sporting a tan on top of a rather painful sunburn, her once icy-pale skin looking a bit more like a freshly boiled lobster. She looked a mess, but Junkrat had swooned over the appearance and declared her 'almost a quarter of the way to looking like a real junker'.

Roadhog had the hood of the van popped, rummaging through the engine and occasionally taking pieces of it out, shaking off clogged dust from the breeze, and putting them back in. Junkrat was busy re-applying the layers of dirt on his hands by wiping them against his shorts as he loped to the back of the vehicle, hopping inside and holding his ear to the large tanks of gas in the back, prodding them with his peg leg and listening to them slosh. Mei twisted around in her seat to look back at him.

"How are the gas levels?"

"We're gettin' low. Good thing we're coming up on the next stop. Few hundred more kilometers and we'll reach Lucky's Knob Station, where we can top off and supply up…hope they got beef jerkys and tea bits, don't want to run out."

"Lucky's Knob?"

"Yeah! It's owned by a bloke named Lucky, set up just below a great big cock-lookin' rock formation."

"…Of course."

"It's a junker stop, it'll have petrol, a shop, and a scrap heap. It'll also have a lot of junkers. Uh, maybe you should wait a bit in the car? Or you could be in charge of the pump for us? You know, stick around the van, we'll be in and out before you know it." He rubbed the back of his neck uneasily, fingers coming away sooty and black.

She couldn't help but rankle a bit at that for some reason. Innocent suggestion though it was, it almost sounded like he was trying to give an over-eager child an 'important job' to do to keep them out of the way. And after the incident with the dog, she couldn't deny that she felt the need to prove she wasn't so incompetent. "Or I could go in the shop," she offered quickly. "I can buy some supplies. Just make a list for me, I'll go in."

"Ehhh…" He didn't sound convinced.

"Plus I have to go to the bathroom," she lied quickly, searching for some semblance of a reason she might need to go in a junker shop.

"We're _literally_ on a bathroom break, right now." He gestured out to the surrounding desert as if the connotation should have been obvious.

"Well, I-I want to go to a proper bathroom," she winced a bit at herself, becoming more aware of how petulant it sounded. "With, you know…ah, toilets."

Roadhog's deep chuckle rumbled from the front of the van outside. Of course he would find all this amusing.

She coughed, abruptly facing the front to hide the deepening shade of pink across her cheeks. Much like Junkrat, she couldn't keep a poker face for the life of her. "So! Just make a list and I'll go in the shop. I'll buy what we need and come right back."

"Well, I guess it would give me and Roadie a bit more time to go over the scrap heap, see if there's any good parts we can use. S'pose it might be all right, if you're just in and out real quick-like. Maybe if we made you look a bit more local, though. You're still real obviously a tourist."

"How do you intend to make me look more 'local'? I'm not going to like this, am I."

"Can't just have a tourist wandering into a junker shop without getting into trouble. You gotta look like a junker."

"Oh dear."

"What was it you said earlier, 'bout making concessions about your clean levels? Hehehe. Oi Roadie, got some grease ready?"

Junkrat jumped to the front of the open van, arms disappearing into the engine and both hands coming out fully blackened, and then Mei was suddenly being pulled through the open door, standing in the sand as the disgusting black ichor was smeared across her cheeks and arms, stained into her poor headscarf, and scrubbed into her hands.

"Get it real good in there, under the nails! No proper junker got clean nails!" he urged, rubbing his blackened thumb under her eye as she squinted unhappily. "And uh, I assure you this is not me copping a feel on ya, just need to get your chest and arse…"

Mei slapped his hands away. "I can get that myself," she said quickly, saying a brief prayer for her deceased garments, as she ruined her tanktop and leggings with more splotches of black ooze. "Do I actually need to look like a junker or is this just because you want to see me all greasy?"

"I choose not to comment on that question! Hmm…needs more. Wait, I got just the ticket!" He ran back to the van, bustling and clanging about, before reappearing with a pair of driving goggles, latching them onto her headscarf before pulling the glove off his flesh hand and rolling that onto her as well. Tapping his narrow chin like a thoughtful fashion designer, he snapped his fingers and undid one of his belts, pulling it from his narrow waist and wrapping it about her. Mei looked and felt like a very strange and very filthy doll that was being dressed up as something she wasn't, but she bit her tongue and stood still as he finished his adjustments.

"Ta-daaaa! Roadie look, it's our Junker Mei!" he announced, stepping away and waving both arms to the disheveled and confused woman behind him.

Roadhog gave her a thumbs up.

* * *

The van had long ago crested the hills that started to separate the lowland plains into a much rockier badlands area, with rising buttes and shallow canyons. One of them in particular stood out from the rest, a great red sandstone rock formation that must have stood for eons in the middle of an ancient and long-dead inland sea, when the canyons had been marine trenches. The seas had eaten away at the rock for eons, scraping and scraping, pebble by pebble, sand by sand, until all but these cliffs remained. Perhaps the highest pinnacle of them had stood above the waters, leaving a rounded wide head at the top of a long, narrow shaft…

Mei readjusted her glasses as she looked up at it. "Okay. It really does look like one."

"I told ya, it looks just like a great big rocky donger. That's Lucky's Knob, and we're coming in on the station."

At the bottom of the offensively-shaped escarpment was something that resembled more of a small town than any gas station she had seen. There was a cluster of ruined buildings that had been hastily repaired and re-shaped with pieces of cars and metal and old shipping containers, surrounded by sheet metal walls and gates. Several of the structures were mechanic shops, and at least one with several chimneys spewing out thick black smoke might have been some sort of foundry, which for some reason was directly next to (and spewing fumes into) an establishment that looked like a pub or drinking room. And in the center of it all was the gas station, which seemed surprisingly intact compared to everything around it. There were still pumps for the petrol, an overhang to keep off the sun and rain, and the main station shop was just inside, underneath a light-up sign that had been rigged to spell LUCKY'S with letters that were clearly purloined from other scavenged signs from long ago.

The station was also infested with junkers, the most people she had seen in several days. They were all shapes and sizes, with many missing pieces of themselves as usual, and all were covered in dirt and ash. They stood smoking and chatting with one another, playing cards outside the bar, working on their numerous vehicles by the mechanic shops, and judging from what little she could see in the shop's windows, there were quite a few of them inside as well.

The van sputtered into one of the wide gates and pulled up alongside one of the gas pumps, hissing as it came to a stop. Roadhog's motorcycle came rumbling up behind them before switching off as well. They were officially at their first junker stop. Mei sat transfixed in her seat, grease-painted face peering out the windows, watching wide-eyed as a brawny man wandered by with the limp body of a dead kangaroo slung over one shoulder, sending a suspicious glare her way before vanishing into the pub kitchens.

"You can still wait here, if you want," Jamison offered blithely, scratching at his gold tooth with a fingernail.

She frowned back at him, "No. I'm going in and I'm going to buy our things."

"And use the bathroom," he grinned.

"…Yes! Yes, and use the bathroom. Inside. The bathroom…" she trailed off lamely, knowing her bluff had been called as the man giggled madly.

"Arroight, darl, don't get in a twist. Just go on into the main store, pick these up if they got 'em." He shoved a crumpled piece of paper into her hands with a hastily-written list. "I'm going to go get a few parts from the scrap heap so this piece of shit don't break down too soon. I'll be round back if you need me. Come right back to the van, and if anyone gives you shit, you gotta look tough and tell them to fuck right off. You're a junker now, love! You gotta act like one!"

"Okay. Look tough, I can do that. I'm sure everything will be fine."

"Oi, Mei…"

She looked at him.

"Have a _great_ piss!" he gave her the wink and the gun, hooting and cackling madly as he loped off.

" _Xiăo huài dàn_!" Mei called after him, making a rude gesture.

She climbed out of the van, looking down at the list. Junkrat's wild handwriting and numerous misspellings aside, it was an easy list; more water and drinks, a jug of coolant, toilet paper, another tarp, some new books for Roadhog, and a few other items. She grabbed an empty backpack and shrugged it on before slamming her door and taking a deep breath, ready to give to herself a little pep talk. She immediately inhaled a face full of stinking fumes from the blacksmithing area as the wind changed, and she coughed before simply dashing out of the smoke and towards the gas station shop.

Roadhog stood quietly at the gas pumps, refilling the tanks as he watched her go.

The bell above the door jostled and chimed as she went in. The inside was a dreary place, dimly lit with flickering light bulbs and poorly insulated, with an untidy amount of sand and dust on the floors, blown in from the outside. But that was easily explained away by the holes in the metal ceiling and the bullet scars in the walls. An old junker with an eyepatch and a metal jaw sat idle behind the counter, ignoring the flies buzzing around him as he read his magazines. The store itself was little more than randomly places shelves of goods, and a smaller area at the back with a few refrigerated storage units. It really was just a gas station after all, though Mei felt distinctly out of place, trying to ignore the other junkers already browsing through.

She went through her list quickly enough; drinks, supplies, and a jug of engine coolant that had been underlined, so it seemed important. The only thing available for Roadhog in the book bin was a few torn magazines and some pulpy romance paperbacks. They were the kind with red lipped women swooning and fainting against burly men with perfectly windswept hair, usually in a field of flowers or on the top of a cliff somewhere. Is this what Roadhog read to pass the time out here? Making a mental note to buy him a better collection of reading materials, she grabbed a few of them anyway. The refrigerated food and the glass bottles felt like heaven to her, and she couldn't stop from literally hugging one against her cheek, enjoying its cooling touch. It melted away some of the dark grease on her face and the label came away black, but she scrubbed at her cheek to try and correct it before moving towards the food and snacks.

To her delight, there was a tin of oatmeal that wasn't too far past its expiration date. And not only was there oatmeal, but there was a large package of beef jerky. No doubt Junkrat would love those, so she leaned down to the bottom shelf and snatched them up. As she lifted back up, she took a step backwards and found herself slamming into another person, who stumbled and almost fell onto the display. Mei whirled around in horror, finding an older woman with tanned and leathery skin, wearing black leather biking gear with far too many skulls on it, and with a wild shock of frizzy dyed white-blonde hair that was dark brown at its roots. She was tall enough that she dwarfed Mei when she straightened to stand.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! Excuse me!" Mei squeaked automatically, going to grasp her by the arm to help steady her once more.

The woman flung her off, and was immediately joined by another junker dressed in similar black leather and skull-emblazoned biker clothing, half his face taken up by cybernetic parts, including a false eye and ear. He was just as tall as Junkrat, but far more top heavy, and his bicep was tattooed with a skeleton being kissed by a voluptuous woman in a red dress, much like the kind would be found on one of Roadhog's pulp romances.

"Excuse me. Please," Mei tried again. "It was an accident."

The woman stared her down, her eyes a vivid and extremely poisonous shade of green, nearly as bright as Jamison's own. "Yeah. An accident, shoving ladies down."

Mei blanched visibly. "Sorry. Sorry. I'm very sorry. Are you all right?"

The biker lady seemed emboldened by her apology. "I'll get better once you hand over those jerkies and then turn about and piss off."

"Oh. Ah, of course. Here, it's all right, you can have them. I don't mind. Sorry again." She hurriedly set the package of beef jerky down on the shelf before turning to go.

"And that other tin."

Mei bit her tongue and quietly put down the tin of oatmeal as well, backing away.

The blond woman stared her down, motioning to the jug of coolant in her other hand. "That was mine first too."

Mei tightened her grip and held the bottle behind her, not liking at all where this seemed to be headed. She met the other woman's eyes and pointedly shoved it into her backpack. "I'm sorry, but my friends need this. It's ours."

"No, see, I had me eye on it the whole time before you took it. So it's mine." The frizzy-haired biker woman smiled unpleasantly.

The barrel-chested man turned on her, cybernetic eye whirring audibly as it focused. "Ours."

Mei licked her chapped lips, trying to remember what Junkrat had told her. She had to seem tough. Stalwartly, she puffed her chest up and picked up both the oatmeal and the jerky again. "No. Now you're just trying to bully me. I had it, I was buying it. And the beef jerky. And the oatmeal. Um…sorry."

Her gaze darted, looking to the man behind the counter for help, or the other junkers perusing the shop, but none of them seemed interested. The little gesture of desperation only seemed to refuel the aggressive junkers' efforts, and the man stepped forward to block her path as the woman slithered around behind her.

"Nice tan lines, love. Never seen a 'junker' so soft and white under her shirt straps before," He leered a grin, reaching out his mechanical hand to prod hard at her arm with a metal digit. "Yeah, real soft, actually. Fresh sunburn too, musta been so pale. Ooo, fancy."

She backed away, trying to shove his hand off her. "Excuse me!"

The junker followed her, his hand still around her upper arm before sneering aloud in amusement, "Oi, Tilda, she's wearing a fancy real brassiere too! Aww, it's gettin' all mussed. Here, lemme get that for ya!"

The woman behind her laughed derisively as the man ignored Mei's attempts to shrug him off, hooking a finger around her bra strap and pulling the elastic until it stretched up and out, and then let it free, leaving it to snap back against her flesh with a sharp popping sound.

" _Qīfu rén!_ "

The can of oatmeal hit him square between the eyes, bursting open and showering him with dried oat grains. Mei clenched a fist, slamming it as hard as she could against the forearm that was holding her. It did little to dissuade the oatmeal-covered bully, who narrowed his eyes down at her and started to snarl a retort.

He never got the chance.

Mei's punch had been mostly ineffective. The same could not be said of the gigantic spike-gloved fist that came hurtling in from the side, a blur of movement just before it slammed into the man's head with a sound that she could not even describe, a flesh-and-bone crunch as metallic knuckles met human cranium. It knocked the skull away first, and then the features followed slowly as if being dragged after, his meaty face twisting grotesquely as he went flying away from her. He literally spun like a football, droplets of liquid red whirling after him, going airborne as he was knocked away into the far wall with a painful thud.

Roadhog snorted and drew his bloodied fist back, offering his other hand out to help the startled climatologist back up. She grasped onto it and pulled upright, only to whirl back around as there was a loud clicking noise. Tilda, the woman with the shock of fried white hair, had pulled out not one, but two sets of cobbled-together semi-automatic firearms. Mei couldn't even begin to guess where she had been hiding them.

"Oi, biggest and _last_ mistake you ever made was sockin' my man!" Tilda's green eyes blazed, aiming her guns at the massive bulky wall of Roadhog as he stood in the way.

Mei lifted a placating hand. "W-wait! I'm sure we can still talk this out!"

"Tilda, you drongo! Biggest mistake was you drawin' on me mates!" A familiar voice interrupted.

A peg leg slammed into the ground next to her, Junkrat's towering form joining Roadhog's, his grenade launcher lifted and ready. Apparently Junkrat and this 'Tilda' knew each other, and by the expressions on their faces, their relationship was not at all friendly to begin with. And not only that, but there came a series of rapidfire clicks, clinks, clatters, and clacks as every single junker in the shop drew their weapons. Each and every one of them was bristling with some sort of firearm, from the clerk's shotgun, to makeshift pulse pistols, and what she was almost certain was a junker version of a bazooka, all aimed at the brawlers. And Mei.

This did nothing to encourage the situation, and merely caused Roadhog to pull his massive firearm as well, slamming a handful of scrap into its ammunition packet as he turned on the rest of the shop, while Junkrat and Tilda faced off against each other, still spitting insults and curses. Mei's stomach dropped as her muscles tightened, face going clammy and pale under her grease paint, adrenaline surging through her. If this escalated any further, the shop would be rapidly reduced to a smoking hole in the ground with all the inhabitants still inside it. She could only think of one thing to do, so she held her handful of money in the air and waved it like one would wave a surrendering white flag, as she started backing away towards the counter.

The old man at the counter, who she could only guess was the eponymous 'Lucky', watched her warily, his shotgun still pointed at her junker companions. She held up both hands plaintively, then slowly placed the handful of money before him. "W-we just want the things in the bag, it should cover the spilled oatmeal too...and some extra. I'm sorry for the trouble."

Lucky glanced down at the handful of crumpled bills and coins, seeming to count it out in his head, before sitting back and pulling his shotgun back behind the countertop. "Get the fuck outta here, take them with you."

She nodded, then carefully approached her junkers again, hands raised. She hesitated to even touch Junkrat, who was literally growling as he stood off against Tilda. But she took his arm and very gently went to urge him back with her. He took an unsure step, peg leg clacking thudding noisily against the ground.

She very nearly lost his attentions again when Tilda snickered behind her, voice taunting. "Yeah, s'right, run away like you do from everything else, trash rodent."

Mei had to head him off at the pass when Jamison's trigger finger twitched on the grenade launcher, pulling him hard along as she whispered hurriedly, "Let's go. Jamie, please, I'm asking you. Let's just go."

With an unhappy grumble, he let himself be pulled towards the door, his enormous bodyguard covering their exit as Tilda finally turned her attentions to her still-unconscious partner who lay in an upside down heap in the corner. Mei half-dragged him outside and didn't stop half-dragging him until they reached the van, and hurriedly threw the shopping pack inside, climbing in after waving to Roadhog. Junkrat threw another hateful look back at the station shop, then reluctantly climbed back into the driver's seat.

* * *

Mei grasped her chest in relief, slumping down into her seat as she let out an exhausted sigh. "That was the most stressful gas station situation I've ever been in! I really do not understand junker culture at all. When Bobbero tried to kill you, you acted like it was all a game. Now when that Tilda woman insults you, you're out for blood and then the whole shop is ready to blow each other to pieces?"

"Yeah, that's how it is. It's easy, darl. I like Bobbero. I don't like Tilda. And Tilda don't like me. Rankly old hoon should have kicked the bucket ages ago, and now she and her lugs wanna start shit with you? Ffft, if I ever needed a reason…"

"I'm fine, really. Just glad nothing happened. It's over, let's just get back on schedule and move on," she moaned, massaging her forehead.

There was a sharp rap at her window as Roadhog's still-bloody knuckles met the glass. Rolling it down, she peered up at him curiously.

"There's a problem," he grunted.

She looked in the direction his mask was pointed. Tilda was standing outside the mechanic shop, with the half-conscious form of her junker companion slumped over her, speaking to a very large group of other junkers near their motorcycles, all dressed in almost the exact same uniforms with the same skull motifs and colors. At the same time, the entire crowd of them all glared over at the van. Their expressions, especially Tilda's, were quite murderous.

"Huh. Didn't know Tilda had made that many friends since we left," Junkrat muttered.

"That's a biker gang, isn't it. We just angered an entire biker gang." Mei slumped down into her seat, covering her eyes with both hands.

"Oh yeah, they're going to be right up our arses as soon as we try to make a break."

"Over a disagreement in a gas station? We were just buying drinks and toilet paper, for goodness' sake!"

"People been killed for less, darl. Especially over toilet paper. Actually, I got a story about that, if you want to hear…"

"Maybe later. Much later. Thanks." She pondered a moment, watching Tilda's gang mill about and prepare their motorcycles, before turning back to Jamison. "Do you have a map of the canyons ahead?"

"The map? Uh, pretty sure it does, why?"

"I think I have an idea. You still have all your bombs with you, right?"

Junkrat's expression lit up, and Mei could have sworn she saw little hearts appear in his pupils. "Have I ever mentioned how much I love ya?"

She gave him a little half smile. "A few times. Either way, I think you're going to love this."


	8. Chapter 8

Tilda's gang waited with surprising patience, at least as far as junkers could be patient. They milled about occasionally, they argued and whispered, occasionally some would leave and then rejoin, but never once did they try to approach the van nor the giant pig-masked man who was standing guard beside it. For nearly an hour, there was nothing but a silent standoff. The two inside the van never exited, only appearing occasionally at a window to whisper something to their bodyguard, who never seemed to respond. The other groups of junkers at the station watched the situation carefully, but showed little interest in intervening. It was simply the way of things.

There was some activity a bit later, when the van's doors opened and Roadhog's motorcycle pulled up behind it, passing boxes between them as the sidecar was filled and covered and tied down with ropes. The bikers watched venomously, muttering amongst themselves that they were likely splitting up their supplies and readying to make a run for it. This was proven correct several minutes later, when the van and the hog-cycle suddenly started up simultaneously, and with a rapid spinning of wheels in the dirt and a slam of the gas pedal, the two vehicles were off like a shot, thundering out of the station gates and back onto the dirt roads towards the canyons.

Tilda grinned, shoving a skull-painted helmet over her shock of frizzy hair as she signaled her gang. With a roar of engines, they mounted their own bikes and immediately started off in pursuit. The rest of the station's junkers watched them go, and then quietly turned back to whatever they were doing.

Bobbero's old van was not meant for high speed chases, and the whole vehicle was rattling dangerously as it struggled to maintain its own structure at such dangerous acceleration. Roadhog's motorcycle passed it effortlessly, with the massive junker still astride as he led them both into the canyons proper, red cliffs rising up on either side of the gravel-strewn road as the buzzing of their pursuers' engines became louder and louder. The road was choked and narrow, and the bulky van took up nearly the entire width of it as it trundled forward, pebbles and debris flying from under its tires.

Tilda's gang did not take long to catch up. There was no room to pass or flank in the slot canyon, and when one of the skull-dressed junkers opened fire on the back of the van doors in a rattle of bullets, Tilda signaled him to cease with a raised fist. The whole group continued forward, the gang dogging Junkrat's heels as the narrow road finally started to open back up, the canyon starting to widen. One of the more eager riders shot forward away from the rest, his chopper pulling up alongside the driver's side of the van as he started to aim for the window. It was a poor move, made evident a moment later as the van swerved abruptly and slammed into the bike, crushing it between its bulk and the rocky walls as it screeched and twisted, sparks flying as both it and its rider were expelled a moment later, left behind in a smear of red and oil.

The other junkers merely swerved around him as they gained once more on the van, the road widening until no amount of swerving or juking could stop it from being flanked. More gunfire rattled the air, the passenger window cracking and shattering and bullets piercing the van's already-scarred exterior. The familiar shape of Junkrat could be faintly seen inside, cringing away from the flying glass as he struggled to maintain control of his path, rattling about in his seat as he continued to push the van's limits, moving deeper and deeper into the rocky maze.

Tilda's bike pulled alongside him, slamming the butt of her gun against the side. "Pull the fuck over, rat! Make this easy!"

The van passed under the shadow of a natural rocky arch as an arm protruded from the driver's window, dull orange metal as the mechanical hand held up one single middle digit, before a control stick flipped up from being held in his palm, the red button pushed flat. There was a faint beeping noise from up above as the mine that had haphazardly been stuck on the archway detonated in an explosion of orange and yellow, the two halves of the broken form formation crumbling with an ominous booming crash as they tumbled to the road below, cutting off the very back of the gang and crushing two of the unluckier ones.

Even Tilda gave pause, her bike stalling out as she looked back at the now blocked road, choked with a cloud of rock dust. "The fuck? How did- _The pig_! The pig's ahead, he's mined the fuckin' road!"

There was another loud boom from up ahead, followed by a cut off yelp, and the junker woman snarled audibly as she slammed her foot back down on the gas and roared back after her prey. There were several more explosions from the yellow stickymines on the canyon walls but the bikers did not falter, dogging the heels of the errant Junkrat when there was the louder and thundering sound of a very different engine, drumming in from one of the tiny side roads that wound about the gorge's floor.

Roadhog's chopper exploded back onto the scene, cutting a path almost directly through the pack of rival junkers. Mei stood in Junkrat's sidecar, her canister of cryo-liquid strapped onto her back and her gun in hand, eyes obscured by her dark driving goggles.

" _Qǐlái ba_!" Her voice was almost drowned out in the clamor as a blue glow appeared briefly in the dirt and the air turned briefly cold, just before ice crystallized from nowhere, packed together into a solid sheet of a wall, aimed diagonally as it turned into a ramp that rose so suddenly beneath the gang's tires that they could not react. Momentum kept them moving forward, wheels skidding uselessly for hold as they were sent flying off into the air, slamming one after the other into the canyon wall. Mei did not watch to see what happened to them after that, tried to drown out the screams and the sounds of metal and rock, tried to focus.

She had to duck down as the other bikers turned upon her and Roadhog in a hail of bullets. The chopper performed admirably, and she could understand why Hog had been so proud of it. It hurtled past the others as she leaned out, cryo-gun hissing as liquid coolant coated their foes, slowing or outright stopping them in place.

Everything looked to be going so well until the van suddenly screeched and there was a loud explosion that did not come from a mine or a wrecked bike, but one of its tires. Whether from a bullet or from the stress of the chase, Mei couldn't tell, but the tire was there one moment and was nothing more than a flapping mess of rubber the next as the van careened off course, the driver clearly fighting for control as it tilted dangerously to one side before righting, skidding around until it came to rest sidelong against a large boulder by the side of the road.

"Jamison!" Mei cried out aloud, holding desperately onto her place in the sidecar as Roadhog swung the bike around and headed towards him.

Tilda and her remaining comrades halted their chase, pulling up alongside the wrecked van. Junkrat's door was already swinging open and he staggered out, his grenade launcher held limply in one hand. He was clearly worse for wear, covered in tiny bleeding cuts from the glass and bruised and wounded from the wreck, holding his side. Even as Mei watched, his lips parted and he bared his teeth in that lunatic cheshire grin, all canines and molars and bloodied gums. He managed to swing his launcher aloft and sent a round of explosives flying at what remained of his opponents.

There were still too many of them and too many bikers between Roadhog's chopper and their comrade. There was no way around them, and no way through them unless she went…over. She grasped onto Roadhog's arm, pointing to their surrounded vehicle. "Roadhog! Toss! Throw me! Throw me over!"

He stared at her uncomprehending for a moment before the order seemed to hit home, the bike pitching to a stop as both enormous hands left their grip on the steering bars and closed around her middle. She'd been picked up by Junkrat many times, much to her displeasure, but he had always carried her like a treasured teddy bear, still affected by her weight. Roadhog had no such limitations, and the elder junker lifted her effortlessly, holding her aloft and rearing back before hurling her forward like a chubby human-shaped missile. She went sailing over the heads of the rival junker gang, wind whistling in her ears, and pain blossoming in her ribs as several bullets flying through the air cut through her flesh like melted butter. There was a white-hot agony in her chest as her watering eyes saw herself closing in on Junkrat's position.

With a pained gasp, that same instantly crystallizing ice spread across her flesh and outward, encasing her in a block of translucent white and blue as her body went cold. Immediately she set about counting. She started at ten seconds, as always.

Seconds ten and nine were spent still airborne. By eight, she was vaguely aware that she had made contact with something fleshy, landing heavily upon someone or something as she met the ground. For several seconds after that, she heard the telltale ping ping ping of bullets ricocheting off her icy shield, bullets meant for Jamison. At three seconds she heard him frantically screaming her name. Two seconds, she could feel her heart seize with fear and her lungs trying to inhale…One second…just like when she'd been frozen before, and it was _all going to go wrong again and she wasn't going to wake up, she was never going to wake up and-_

With a painful gasping rasp of a noise that tore itself from her throat, the ice shattered around her and Junkrat was reaching through the shards, pulling her upright.

Tilda's skull-helmet rose into view and she felt hard metal slam into the side of her skull. Her world, already reeling from her cryo-block, blurred even further as the blow rattled her, a high-pitched whine in both her ears. Junkrat was already upon the other woman, though Mei could only see the hazy shapes of fists and blows being exchanged, Tilda's hard helmet headbutting Junkrat in the nose, and then a keen of pain as his sharp teeth closed on the side of the woman's neck in the most primal way of fighting she had ever seen.

Mei was busy trying to steady herself, leaning heavily on the open door of the van as more rival junkers rushed to their boss's aid, pausing only when there was a loud bellow of muffled laughter and Roadhog whirled around from the back, the crank in his gun turning steadily as bullets and sharpened bits of scrap went spraying forward. What scattered remnants remained of the gang, including Tilda herself, found themselves unable to do much in the face of the onslaught. There was some returning fire, and blood spattered from new wounds on Hog's giant body, but he was pushing them backward, forcing them back further and further, towards a shallow divot in the wall. They crowded there, trying to regroup even as Hog groaned loudly and collapsed to one knee, his ammunition spent.

Before they could recover fully, Mei took aim and her barrier of ice suddenly sprung to form in front of them, walling them off into the three-sided divot and entrapping them there.

"Junkrat!" she called, causing the battered junker's head to rise up at his name. "Junkrat, do it. We have them!"

He looked back at her with a black eye and a crooked nose, blood streaming down his face and making his not-quite-all-there grin all the more eerie, smiling through red teeth. Despite his injuries his eyes lit up radioactive yellow as he reached into the back of the van and pulled forth his favorite creation, the infamous RIP-Tire.

"Foire in th' hole!"

He slammed his peg-leg onto it to hold it steady as he anchored himself against the ground and pulled the rip-cord with all his might, nearly falling backwards in the process as its motor shrieked to life and the spiked tire was sent careening off. The metal shards embedded in the rubber left behind shallow punctures in the rocky ground, before finding purchase on the sheer wall of ice and climbed up, up, and then over, dropping down into the makeshift prison.

There was a very loud boom as fire and smoke exploded from the top of the wall as the tire detonated on impact. For several long moments there was nothing but the three of them panting and the occasional moan of a survivor amongst the dust, smoke, and chaos. Mei decided to leave the ice wall up. She didn't want to see what was left of anything in the trap. She still had trouble with such things and the guilt that came with it, even if they had been trying to hurt her and her friends.

That's not to say that they hadn't succeeded in hurting them. Mei's cryo-freeze had frozen the bullet wounds in her ribs and belly, chilled so cold that they had effectively been cauterized, but her shirt was still red with blood and she felt the beginnings of what she knew was going to be a rather terrible pain as soon as the adrenaline wore off. Her junker companions had fared no better. Roadhog had placed one of his canisters to his mask and was breathing in the healing fumes, trying to staunch the numerous bullet wounds his body had taken in the firefight. Junkrat had had it the worst. His face was a mess, and he bore wounds from both the crash, stray bullets, and his fight with Tilda. He was swaying dangerously where he stood. Mei hurried to his side and shoved herself in under his arm, though her short height did comically little to support him. Still, his arm moved around her and he offered her a lopsided grin.

"Heh! Hehehe! We got 'em! We got 'em good! Oh, everyone's gonna hear about this one! No one's ever dare gonna mess with Mr. Jamison Fawkes! Uh, and company, of course. I'm gonna sit down now," he announced, his voice slurring a bit as he slumped down onto Mei, who carefully helped lower him to the ground.

Mei bustled to the back of the van, rummaging through the jostled mess of their supplies. The science equipment had remained luckily untouched, and after making sure things were generally in order, she dug out their emergency kit, pulling out a yellow canister. Carrying it outside, she popped its activator and set it down on the ground. The biotic field sputtered to life with a comforting yellow glow, and all three of them were immediately drawn into it, even Mei herself flopping down onto the ground as she let it wash over her, breathing deeply as the pain in her ribs slowly lessened.

Junkrat was laying spread-eagled in the dirt, his bodyguard quietly sitting vigil nearby. The younger junker sounded positively drunk, probably a combination of the lull after the excitement from their chase, blood loss, and the soothing healing effects of the biotic mending. He reached out one long arm, seeking blindly until a hand found Mei's knee. "We did good, ya know? Good idea on Hog rigging the canyon like that. And then coming from the side. And then the rest of the things. Really got Tilda good. Got 'em all good. But you and me? Fire and ice, we got like…a thing…"

"Very descriptive," Mei managed a little chuckle, though it hurt. She placed her hand atop his, giving a little reassuring squeeze. "But yes, I agree. We did good."

Roadhog merely rumbled an agreement.

They sat like that, saying little, until the field flickered and died out. Roadhog was the first to get up, brusquely pulling the spare tire out of the back of the van as he went to change out the flattened one and begin repairs. After a bit, Mei got up to help him, though she could do little more than bring Hog the correct tools and try to clear away debris from the numerous wrecked bikes around them. Even when Junkrat had finally recovered enough to help, the van had taken such a beating that it was still nearly an hour of work before they could get back on the road again, and they left behind the scene of carnage behind them. Mei left the wall up. She still didn't want to see it.

* * *

Darkness fell early in the shadows of the canyonlands, and they opted to make camp in one of the smaller slot canyons off a side road, out of sight. Junkrat practically begged to be allowed a campfire, and the other two relented to a small one. Mei had to admit that she found it comforting, almost like the glow of the biotic field. It might not have helped with the pain in her chest and side, but there was a sense of security that came with it.

It also helped warm their horrible MRE meals. Mei sat on her blanket by the fire, reluctantly eating another VEGETARIAN MEAL packet. Despite being ravenously hungry, it took no small amount of will to keep her spoon dipping into the concoction that was supposed to be vegetarian chili.

"Looks like diarrhea, like the bad kind what's been in there a while," Junkrat commented helpfully, shoving cookies into his jaws.

"Thank you for that, Jamie," she responded bitterly, finally giving up on the meal altogether and shoving it aside.

"So! How're you finding your Aussie Adventure Tour so far, eh? Hope you were in for some excitement."

"I guess I was expecting more trouble from the storms and less easily-enraged biker gangs and high speed chases."

"Tuh. See, that's just local color."

"It's not really what I'm here for. I'm a climatologist, not an anthropologist."

"Dunno what that means, love. But I mean, you, me, and Roadie, we just took out Tilda's entire pack of hoons in one outing. Folks are gonna be talking about that one. Was a mite afraid of us not getting through it whole. Still feels like I got rolled by a pack of wild dogs on all sides. C'mon, Pigface, what'd I ever hire you for?"

Mei pursed her lips at him. "Leave him alone, Mr. Roadhog did his job and protected us both."

Roadhog seemed completely uninterested in their conversation, neither Junkrat's complaint nor Mei's defense of him. He merely lifted his juicebox in recognition and turned back to his dinners.

"Oi, I ain't a knocker, just playing. I guess I did like that bit where Roadie tossed you right over their heads and you ice-slammed into one of 'em. You gotta teach me how to do some of them icy tricks one day. Don't really get to see you fighting as much as some of the others."

She gave a little humorless laugh. "That's because…no, never mind."

He arched one bushy scorched brow. "Because what?"

"I don't like to fight, really. But I can, if I need to, if there's a cause for it. I shouldn't get irritated at Winston for not putting me on the forward teams, he knows I don't like to fight and he's just trying to help me out like a friend would. But sometimes I think he's trying to protect me because he thinks I can't protect myself and…I don't know. It's just a silly little pet-peeve of mine. Please don't mention anything to him. He barely let me come out here as it is."

" _Let_ you? Darl, you're a fierce little snowflake what just took down a biker gang in the middle of the 'stralian outback, you can probably do anything you want without someone _letting_ you. I seen you put icicles through those Talon blokes like nothing I ever seen before. Never doubted you could fight. Never doubted you at all."

She gave him a little smile, still self-conscious despite his words, but she scootched a bit to the side and then leaned up, up enough that she could reach his tall form and deliver a light kiss to the side of his cheek. "Thanks."

Junkrat's grin melted into a more syrupy little content smile, lifting his fingers to touch the spot where her lips had been. "I'm never washing this cheek."

"You never wash it anyways."


	9. Chapter 9

They finished the remainder of their meals, and Mei retreated to the back of the van for a round of baby wipes and fresh clothes without grease or bloodstains. The junkers had no such qualms and lazed about with the effects of the battle still evident all over them, the freshly-healed wounds still raw and red upon their flesh.

When she had cleaned up and returned to the campfire, Roadhog was gone. She glanced about, and finally saw the silhouette of his figure further down the canyon, tinkering with his motorcycle. "Oh no, did you tell Roadhog to leave again?"

"Wasn't me this time, mate, swear it. Just left on his own. He does that. Says it's the only time he gets any peace around me. But!" He gestured to the blanket next to him, the firelight illuminating his features eerily and really doing nothing to help his cause. "Figured you still might want to talk. We never got around to talkin', last time."

She scrunched her nose in hesitation, but quickly relented. With a nod, she slipped forward and settled down next to him, and didn't protest when he went to drape his arm around her like before. "I suppose we never did finish our talk from before," she said.

"Too roight. How you feeling, darl?"

"A little rough, to be honest. It's been a while since I've been shot. I really shouldn't complain, though, I'm very sorry for how you must be feeling after all that."

"Me? Aw, this is nothing, I've had worse. Nothing keeps Jamison Fawkes down for long!" He thrust a finger into the air, then winced slightly and drew his arm back down. "Might take it easy for a bit, though. Still can't get the taste of that ol' drongo's blood out of me mouth. Luckily, I came prepared." He spat into the dirt before unlatching his flask of tea, taking a gulp before offering her a taste.

Just as before, she accepted and took a swig. Apparently today's flavor was strawberry. "Oh, I love strawberry."

"I know."

"Do you have any more?"

"Oh-ho-ho, do I! See, I told Roadie that tea heist was worth the trouble, but the old blubberknuckle never wants any. Come on, let's see what I got!" He sat up and scampered back towards to the van, returning with his own rucksack full of personal supplies. Within moments he had a pot of water boiling above their little campfire, and Mei watched with interest as he led her step by step on how he made his outback teas. It was really quite involved, and she was surprised at just how precise and delicate he could be with all his measurements, even if his measurement system consisted of an old tin measuring cup and he could only explain things not in numbers but 'just above the dent here' or 'before it gets up to knuckle height here'. Apparently much trial and error had gone into his processes, but he remembered, tried again, and perfected. It was honestly fascinating to watch him work, dumping in flavor powders and sugar and measuring out the dried tapioca orbs and condensed milk levels.

She could easily imagine him doing much the same with his makeshift explosives, measuring gunpowder instead of sugar, twisting and fiddling with charges instead of flavored powders. And he had done this all with little to no education. He may have been crazy, but he also was crazy smart, in his own way. She knew of scientists and college-educated scholars who couldn't work with chemicals the way he did. It made her wonder what he might have been capable of if he had the correct opportunities.

Moments later, she found herself holding a tin cup full of more strawberry boba tea, and Junkrat sitting back beside her with his own flask, other arm draped about her shoulders.

"And that's why you -never- mix up your blue jars and your yellow jars, you end up with gunpowder black boba, and it don't taste as good as you'd think it would!" he finished, apparently having rambled on with some story or other while Mei's mind had wandered.

She glanced about before giving him a little grin. "I have an idea for it," she said, before reaching to where her cryo-liquid canister and gun lay nearby. She twisted one of the release knobs, took aim with her gun, and with two little puffs of ice, their tea was nicely chilled as she passed it back to her companion. "It's not really wasting ammo if it's for an important cause," she remarked slyly, a little thrilled with even the most benign naughtiness.

He grinned back at her, clinking his flask to her cup before pulling her back into his embrace and drinking deep. It was surprisingly nice to simply be relaxing with him; with Junkrat, of all people, something she never would have expected herself to be doing several weeks ago. Perhaps it was simply from bonding over several life or death situations by now, or seeing how much more easily he fit into his natural home than he ever had back at base, or just from simply spending time with him that didn't involve exasperated sighs or patiently counting down until he would go away. She was almost getting…well, fond…of him. Of Junkrat. Jamison Fawkes.

"Mei? Mei! Oi, you're dazey tonight, your head all right? Need to get another biotic pack?"

"No! I'm sorry, no. I'm fine, really, just have a lot on my mind. There's been so much that's happened since I arrived. It seems like every day something strange happens. Is it really always like this?"

"Nah, love. Maybe it's just luck, but most days are usually spent driving or traveling, avoiding other junkers or trying to beat them to a score, and real long periods of nothing. You just seem to be getting all the exciting stuff, lucky you! This is way better than doing nothing! The real Aussie experience!"

She gave a little groan of disagreement. "My ribs think differently, thanks."

"Thought your lil' icicle move took care of that?"

"It does, to an extent. It basically cauterizes, but it certainly doesn't mean it's pleasant. And I don't…really like doing it…"

"That why you always look weird when you come out of it?"

She furrowed her brows at him. "What do you mean, that I look _weird_?"

"I dunno. Not bad! You never look bad. But you got this look on your face when you come out. You look scared."

"I don't like to use the cryo-freeze until there's no other option. And even then, I can only last for a few seconds before I need to get out. I know Winston and I designed it for longer capabilities but…I just can't do it. I count the seconds until I can break it." Mei looked down, feeling somewhat uncomfortable even speaking about it. "It's a shame, I can't use it like it's supposed to be used but…I just can't do it. Not after everything that happened."

"Yeah, heard you was on ice for a while in the Antarctic. Brrrrr, I get cold just thinking about it! How long were you chilling out, anyway?"

"How old do you think I am?"

"That a trick question? This one of those things where I'm not supposed to ask a lady's age because it's rude and Ana will cuff my ear again?" Junkrat grumbled to himself, lifting a gloved hand to the side of his head and rubbing it as if trying to soothe a painful old memory. "That was my favorite ear, too. I swear it was all red for weeks."

"No, really. How old?"

"Okay, I mighta peeked at your file. I was gonna find your birthday and then get you something real good, I mean 'blow your socks off!' kind of good. Maybe literally! Uh, hold on, you were in your thirties I think? A few years older 'n me, so what? Not a problem, what good blue-blooded bloke doesn't admire an older woman." He wiggled his thick brows pointedly.

"I know my file says I'm 31. In a way, I'm 31. I mean, I feel 31 but, technically…"

"Huh?"

She coughed lightly. "I'm closer to 42."

Junkrat's eyes bulged, head tilting his head this way and that, and she could practically hear his mind buzzing as he processed that bit of information. He sputtered, for once seeming at a loss for words, then seemed to regain his senses and held up a finger pointedly. "42! Roight! Uh. Well! What…good blue-blooded bloke doesn't admire an _older_ woman?" he tried again. "Hooly dooly, that's near on Roadie's age. You don't act like it. Or look like it. I mean, not that not acting or looking like Ol' Pigface is a bad thing…"

She shrugged helplessly. "But in a way I'm still 31. But I was in that cryostasis pod for just over a decade. Isn't that hard to imagine? Ten years going by while you're asleep? But we never meant it to last that long. We thought we'd just be under for a few weeks, a few months, maybe. But then everything malfunctioned and even though I was preserved, ten years of my life went by and my body's cells were still aging. Nobody would know it just by looking at me. But ten years of my life are gone, and I never knew them."

"What's that mean for you?"

"It means I'm over 41 years old, with the look and mind and everything else like I'm 31. But still, I'm 41. Because I lost a decade. Even if I live to be very old, I'll die ten years before I should. I try not to think about it. I get very sad about everything if I think about it too much."

"Yeah. You know, sometimes I think that too. Think I'll survive long enough for the radiation n' everything else to get me? Junkers don't live real long, and if I start thinking of it, get this real bad feel in the bottom of my gut, like I drank a bad boba or something, but worse. Makes what's left of me arm and leg bits hurt too, real strange. So I decided 'to hell with it!' and don't much think of it at all. I like to focus on building or testing instead, put out a few good kabooms! Always brightens my day!" He offered her a lopsided smile, gold tooth gleaming.

"Is that why you don't seem to care about all the danger you put yourself into? You don't care? Do you _want_ to die?"

"Tch! Of course not! That's mad!"

"But it's mad to be throwing bombs around and working with explosives and I mean, I've seen you fall asleep on top of one of your mines before. Any one of those could kill you."

"Yeah, then I'd be dead, wouldn't I? S'like, the big finality. Won't have to worry about anything then, I guess. Besides, won't be so bad if I die younger. It's real likely I'll die before the radiation withers or cold fevers can really hit me. Ooo, darl, I've seen what it does to you. Spooks me, the thought of living that old." He let an exaggerated shudder run through him.

Mei sat up and gave him a hard look, dark eyes meeting gold. After a moment she merely shook her head and leaned back against him. "I don't think I really understand you, a lot of the time. I'm scared to die young and you're scared to die old? Do you think that means anything?"

"It's funny, ain't it? It's all right, love, we don't gotta agree on all the finer bits. Fuck knows it's not up to us in the end. But…" He pecked his lips to the top of her head before resting his chin atop her. "Suppose I can try to stick around a bit longer since you need me for all these missions and whatnot, you know, keep an eye out for you. Let it never be said that Jamison Fawkes struck out early when Miss Mei still needed him! We got a lot to finish!"

She paused, trying to think of something that might lighten the mood, turn the conversation away from lost years and the impending death of the both of them. So she pondered his words for a moment, biting her lip, before commenting quietly, "Don't worry. I'd never suggest that you finish early."

Junkrat froze before grasping her by the shoulder, eyes wide as he pulled her back to look at her. "Did you just make a dirty joke?"

"Wha-no! No! Maybe! I just…I overheard McCree make a joke one time about-you know!" She buried her face in both palms.

"You did! You just said a sex joke! Blimey! I never thought I'd be alive for the day! Forget everything I said. I can die happy. I'm dyin' right now." He immediately flopped over onto her, letting his wiry form go limp across her as she struggled from the sudden weight. "Ya killed me, Mei. I'm dead."

" _Wǒde mā ya_! Get off, you're heavy! You'll _be_ dead if you don't get-…WAA!" She shoved against his chest, and and he immediately redoubled his efforts to drape over her.

"Making filthy sex jokes _and_ threatening to kill me? I knew us junkers would be a real bad influence on ya."

She gave up against the pressing weight of him. How did he manage to be both gigantic and scrawny at the same time? With an oomph, she collapsed onto her back onto the blanket with a little wince as her ribs protested, and Junkrat landed backward, sprawled across her stomach with his fists risen into the air in triumph. He twisted slightly, then finally lifted himself on one arm to loom over her, his eyes seeming to literally glow in the shadow from the firelight.

They were so close together. It had just been him teasing her, of course, the way he always teased her, combined with his simple inability to recognize personal boundaries. And she'd let it happen. She really should bring it to a stop; try to force him off her again, or tell him he smelled and shove him away, or scold him for possibly re-opening their injuries. She started to do just that, inhaling, but found she was merely holding her breath and saying nothing.

Mei stared up at him, mouth going unexpectedly dry. She just needed a moment, that was all. Her blood was singing because of simple adrenaline, the remainders of the a tough day and their impromptu wrestling match. Her arms were starting to wrap around him just in retaliation, to try and ready herself against his play, and the reason her fingernails were starting to scrape lightly at his flesh was because…she couldn't think of an excuse for that one, nor one for why her other arm shifted up around his shoulders and her hand brushed the coarse sandy-blond locks of his hair.

He made a little desperate noise in his throat as he pulled himself half atop her, hands planting on either side of her shoulders. Something had changed between them. His eyes were dilated black rimmed with gold, and there was tension in his stance. After a moment she realized he was waiting on her, waiting for that scolding or for her to reject him yet again. When that rejection did not come, his eyes widened down at her, drinking in the way she looked with her arms looped around him, a black smear on one side of the her face that did nothing to conceal the charming flush of her cheeks, her hair tousled and messy on the blanket below, and how dark her eyes were, drawing him in…

There was a pause, the length of a heartbeat as they looked at one another, before his head dipped suddenly and his rough lips covered hers.

It had been years. Technically, it had been decades, though she had slept most of them away and could not remember them. The last person she had been with had been a member from another eco-point she had been visiting in Greenland. He had been blue-eyed and soft spoken and respectful, and they had taken refuge under a thick blanket together, enjoying each others' warmth because it had been so cold out.

It was nothing like now. Now she was sweating in a desert, being kissed by a man who couldn't be more different from her if he tried. He was as warped and strange as the land he came from, towering in height, his back hunched just to be able to reach her. He was lean with sinew and muscle and his body peppered with scars from a lifetime of hunger and bloodshed. She drew in a breath, and he smelled like sunlight and gasoline and smoke and it nearly choked her. Those strange amber golden eyes stared pleadingly into hers as he tried to kiss her again, his searing lips landing on her half-open ones. Hot breath exhaled across her face.

Another kiss. And then another. But when she still didn't seem to react, his scorched brows furrowed and his expression was crestfallen, an apology choked in his skinny throat as he tried to untangle himself from her and draw away, gaze downcast.

He found he could not. Her fingers had latched themselves into the thin meat of his back, slowly curling against him and holding him there. He blinked and looked back to her, confusion and the beginnings of hope written on his features.

Mei swallowed audibly, and her voice came out as an embarrassing squeak before managing to whisper, "No, sorry. I just…didn't expect…It was fast."

His unique grin returned, though he still seemed unsure of where they stood. "S'pose I'm a pretty unexpected sort. Uh…mighta got carried away?"

To assure him otherwise, she tightened her grip around him and leaned upward, pressing her lips back to his. Junkrat's expression melted into pure happiness, eyes drifting half closed as he positioned himself back over her and readily kissed her back. He was an enthusiastic kisser, as enthusiastic as he was with everything he did, and threw himself into it headlong. His head tilted to the side, lips still locked as he urged his kisses deeper, trying to taste her as his tongue slipped forward against hers. She was more shy, and her tongue darted back until several more kisses and a low moan reassured her, her mouth finally opening to his.

She wasn't sure how long it went on. Time had simply stopped mattering to her fogged senses. There was nothing but the feel of lips and hands, one warm flesh and the other cold metal. She could have easily lost herself further, let herself be drawn in by the scent of smoke and the promise of more heat and more pleasure. His breath was getting faster, nearly panting, and even that was nearly drowned out by the way her heart pounded almost painfully against her ribs. She wanted nothing more than to draw him closer, lose herself in that heat and become part of it, and burn with it. She was only dimly aware of his long fingers slipping into the bottom of her shirt, slithering upward through the fabric, towards the swell of her chest…

She gasped against his lips, "Wait."

He paused immediately, eyes opening with a questioning look. "Hnn? S'wrong?"

She reached down to still his seeking hand, starting to pull it from her shirt. "Jamie…I can't."

"Wot?"

"Not yet," she answered gently, and tried to soothe him with another kiss to his chin.

He wasn't the sort to ever hide how he was feeling, and made no effort to conceal the disappointment written on his features. He cleared his throat a little, nodding furiously as he pulled himself off her. "Gotcha. Okay. Did I do it wrong?"

She shook her head quickly, sitting up. "No, no, it was…it was nice. Really nice. I just think it shouldn't be too fast. Roadhog might come back any second, and my ribs still ache a lot and you're still hurt, and just, it's been a while for me and I just…I suppose I need a bit of time. But nothing was wrong, please don't think that."

He looked somewhat relieved but still unhappy, managing a grin that was clearly half-hearted. "Roight. Well, don't want to freak you out or nothing. And I guess I'm still not in tip-top shape…was really making me feel better, though. You liked it though? Really? Know I did."

"I did too." She glanced out at the rapidly darkening shadows beyond the fire before leaning to whisper in his ear, "A lot."

His scrawny chest puffed out at that, clearly pleased with himself. "Well, guess we can put a pin in it until next time."

"Thank you for understanding."

"'Course!"

She gave his hand a little squeeze before pulling herself upright, dusting the sand from her rear. "I'm going to go get things ready for bed."

He nodded. "Yeah, sure. I'm uh…gonna go do some things. Be back in a tick."

She offered him a smile, his favorite kind. It was slow and genuine and made dimples just below the apples of her plump cheeks, her eyebrows perking just slightly above the crease of her eyes. It was very different from his own grin, with wide stretched lips and bared teeth that was more snarl than smile. Her smile was beautiful. He offered her a little wave, fingers wiggling before she turned and vanished into the back of the van.

"Fuck!" he gasped, though the expletive sounded more frustrated than angry. He leapt upright, the joint of his peg leg audibly squeaking, before hurriedly going to lope off beyond the dim light of the tiny fire, out into the shadows of the gully.

He passed by Roadhog, who was sitting by his motorcycle with a tiny booklight, reading quietly and guarding the entrance to their camp. Junkrat snorted and lifted his head, skulking past him and trying not to call too much attention to the severely noticeable and nearly painful tent at the front of his shorts. Roadhog didn't even look up, but as he passed by, the larger man shifted slightly in his seat and rumbled a low, "Hope you're being careful."

Junkrat whirled upon him. "Oi, piss right off, wanker."

Roadhog snorted a chuckle. "I don't think _I'm_ the wanker here."

"S'fuckin' crude, mate, that's what that is. I'll have you know, we had a brilliant time! I hit all the bases! First all the way through fourth!"

"There's no such thing as fourth base."

"Oh, there is! But I'm not gonna tell you shit about it, because she wants a proper gent, and I'm a proper gent, and proper gents don't kiss and tell! Uh…I'm just gonna…go take care of some things real quick. Got some business." He skipped a step and then turned and practically dashed out into the dark, desperate for a bit of private time.

"Don't hurt yourself," Roadhog advised, turning another page of his novel.

"Fuck off!"

* * *

Night had long since fallen but Mei, once again, found herself laying awake in her sleeping bag inside the van. She tried turning this way and that, tried sleeping on top of it, tried wadding up her hoodie for more of a pillow, but nothing seemed to help. Her ribs ached fiercely and her mind played the events of the day over and over again; the trouble back at Lucky's Station, the massacre in the canyon, their conversation about the time they'd never get back. Most of all it played that kiss. Or, kisses, plural. It wasn't regret, not really. It had been warm and sincere and she kept wondering what would have happened if she'd not said to wait. Well, she knew exactly what would have happened, Jamison wasn't exactly shy about that. And she really did need the time to think things through. Think about what all this meant…

For the past hour she had sat and listened to the hushed voices of the junkers outside, and by the sounds of it, they were starting to turn in as well as she heard the rustle of bed rolls. She rolled over to stare at the dull, torn-apart ceiling of the van for several minutes more before coming to a decision. She pulled her leggings back on, rolled up her sleeping bag, and rolled open the door.

The lantern immediately switched on outside, Junkrat blinking at her as she climbed down. "Mei? Somethin' wrong?"

She looked over at him. He had already removed his prosthetics, the stump of his arm cut off just below the elbow and a suspiciously flat area beneath the blanket where his leg should have been. She shook her head quickly, lifting up the messily-rolled lump of sleeping bag in both arms. "No, no, I'm fine. It's just not very comfortable in there. I thought maybe I'd try sleeping out here?" She glanced over at Roadhog, who was little more than an unmoving mountain atop his own bedroll, his back turned to her and offering no response. "If that won't disturb anyone? I don't want to be a bother."

Junkrat's usual grin spread back across his face as he gestured the remainder of his arm beside him. "Here! Yeah, clear spot right over here, real nice!"

"Thank you."

"Just sayin', you get cold in the night or anything, I am right here. Real good for warmin' you up."

She gave him a pointed look. "You are saying if _I_ get cold. Me. Zhou Mei-Ling."

"Okay. Okay, point taken. But, offer stands."

Nodding, she went and dumped out her sleeping bag a polite distance away from the junker, trying to ignore his clear excitement. She couldn't deny that her time with Jamison had turned from a kiss to full on making out, but she wasn't quite ready for anything involving sleeping with the man, even in a literal sense. At least outside, the night air was cooler and fresher, and as the lamp switched off again, she rolled onto her back and stared up at the vivid array of stars overhead, above the stretching darkness of the canyon walls, just as spectacular as the first night she'd seen them. It was far nicer to be out here. Junkrat was muttering softly to himself in such a way that she couldn't tell if he was asleep or not, while Roadhog's breathing was a deep, steady rumbling baritone every time he breathed out.

With a contented sigh, she removed her glasses and tucked them next to her makeshift pillow, as the world above blurred before she closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

She dreamed that the sun was coming up in the middle of the night, rising from the horizon and consuming the stars with its light, smothering them one by one. Its rays fell across her and she could feel its glow burning her from the inside. Hot. It was too hot. She thrashed slightly, trying to kick away the top of her sleeping bag, pushing at the heavy fabric, but found that she was quite unable to move. She felt pinned, like a vice had been fastened around her middle, and the more she moved the tighter it became. Snapping from her slumber with a little squeak of alarm, she blinked rapidly and tried to focus…finding both the source of the uncomfortable pressure and the heat that plagued her.

Junkrat was nestled against her side, curled almost in a fetal position with one arm locked around her sleeping bag and his head bowed, breath a muffled high-pitched little wheeze of a snore as he snuggled deeper into the fabric. She groaned, finally managing to slither one arm out of his grip, finding her glasses and shoving them on. Irritation turned to concern when she saw that he had apparently abandoned his bedroll completely and was sleeping on bare, cold sand. He was shivering, and without his maniac grin and twisted expressions…he looked almost pitiable, just a dirty and malnourished young man seeking any source of warmth and comfort he could find, even while dreaming.

He probably would have taken offense to her pity if he'd been awake, she knew. The junkers were not the type who liked to show weakness.

But he wasn't awake.

She tried not to disturb him, and shifted slightly under his arm, still pinned in the wad of fabric as she spotted movement out of the corner of her eye. Roadhog was apparently up and about already, and Mei cleared her throat a little, lifting her voice to a loud whisper. "Roadhog! Mr. Hog! Uh…help?"

There was a rumbling breath, something she could have sworn was an exasperated sigh as the giant man trundled over. He was a bit more brusque about the matter than she, one gloved hand gripping his smaller partner's arm, the other closing around Mei's shoulder before he simply pulled the two apart. Junkrat's arm was shoved downward and Mei was pulled up out of her sleeping bag like a spring daisy, popping free as he hauled her upright and set her down lightly. Jamison's expression tightened and he made a strange little noise she couldn't quite put her finger on, an almost angry whimper, before Roadhog simply wedged one foot under his middle and unceremoniously rolled him off the sand and on top of Mei's bag. She watched this happen with wide eyes, completely expecting him to wake up and start swinging or swearing at them both, but he remained soundly asleep, curling back up with his face tucked into his arms. She took her coat and tried to drape it over his bare chest, but could only watch as his seeking fingers curled into the fabric and promptly pulled it right back off him, hugging the bundled fabric like a stuffed bear and burying his face into it once more.

She gave Roadhog a helpless look and gestured to the still-sleeping Junkrat with a baffled air, but the larger man simply shrugged his broad shoulders and turned away. She abandoned her coat in Junkrat's death grip, moving over to his original bedroll and pulling off his patched and ragged blanket, wrinkling her nose at its state before turning and covering his skinny form. He muttered something obscene under his breath before stilling once more, and Mei left him to meander after his bodyguard.

She fell into step beside the much larger man. "Is that normal?"

"He does that."

"To you too? Does he try to…what is the word…cuddle, you?"

"Mm. Nearly put his lights out the first time he did it. You get used to it. Not his fault how he is." He leaned down to pick up the massive metal hook by his bike, attaching it to the length of chain and testing its heft before turning and abruptly starting to wander away from their campsite.

Mei glanced back at Jamison. "Where are you going? Shouldn't we stay and watch him?"

"Breakfast. Proper breakfast. He'll be fine. Come on."

That gave her pause. Roadhog was inviting her somewhere? He had paid her little attention so far and she had not pressed the matter. But the elder junker was already turning the bend into the next gulch, and she finished pulling her boots on before hurrying after him. "Oh! Okay, wait for me!"

* * *

He still wasn't the chatty type, and the two walked along in relative silence save for his labored breathing. There wasn't much to see in the canyons, little but rocky red walls towering on both sides of them against the yellow-pink of the morning sky, the occasional trash or graffiti from campers before them, and the little scrubby shrubs growing in the relative comfort of the canyon's provided shade. She kept hoping he might strike up some sort of conversation, but after nearly a half-hour of silence, she decided it was time she took the initiative.

"What did you mean earlier?"

"Hm?"

"You said it wasn't his fault how he is. Was he not always like…how he is?"

Hog shrugged a massive shoulder. "I've only known him a few years, when he approached with his 'business deal'. Outback had taken a toll on him by then. He might have been different before. It's not his fault." He leaned down, throwing down one knee as his dirty fingertips inspected the ground, snorting before changing direction and heading further into a nearby gully.

She dutifully followed after him, arms folded behind her as she trailed him. "The radiation?"

"The omnium blew when he was just a child. It got into his head when he was still young. Still not sure how he survived, his stories always change. I don't think he remembers."

"I remember seeing the news about it when I was younger. They said terrorists had blown the reactor core. It was so terrible, I still remember feeling so helpless when they were showing all those awful pictures. _Wo de tian na_ , all those poor people…"

Roadhog was quiet for a very long time, still trudging steadily ahead before answering, "Yeah…"

He turned and approached a divot in the sandy gulch bottom, gesturing her forward as he knelt down. Mei watched as he examined the greenish-yellow shrub before lifting its branches up to reveal the small magenta berries beneath. "Ruby saltbush… looks ripe enough. Take these."

"Oh…We're foraging! That's what we're doing!" Mei snapped her fingers before kneeling down next to him, starting to pluck the berries from their stems.

"What did you think we were doing?"

"I thought…I don't know, maybe you wanted to talk to me?" She trailed off lamely, pretending to be suddenly very interested in the saltbush. "But, that's okay. It might not be weather-related, but it's interesting to see how people survive in the outback."

"Your MREs taste like shit. And I've eaten a lot of bad things in my time."

"Well..I.. I didn't choose them! Jamison and I even asked for the better quality stuff, but this was considered a non-essential mission so they gave us the cheap ones. But I ordered extra just in case so we wouldn't go hungry, plus we don't- Where are you going now?"

"Rock fig, pick that one next." He grunted in reply, pointing to another nearby plant as he strode forward once more. "And I did want to talk to you."

"Oh?" She paused to examine the plant, what he had called a rock fig, a hardy-looking scrub growing straight out of the rockface, dotted with tiny orange and brown fruits. Waiting for his reply, she got to picking, tucking them into the makeshift basket in the fabric of her shirt.

"Are you flirting with Fawkes just so he'll help with your mission. Or just because he's around."

Mei froze, one hand halfway out to pick another berry. A very pregnant silence hung in the air before finally her head swiveled to look his way. Her jaw tightened, lips moving as she tried to find words, her voice finally cracking through with uncharacteristic hostility. "H-how! How could you say that!"

Roadhog seemed unphased as ever, the white lenses of his mask unflinching. "Doing my job."

She sputtered with righteous indignation, counting to ten before she even attempted an answer. "I'm t-trying to understand your…concern. B-but I would never do something like that and I don't appreciate the insinuation. This operation is important to me, but I would never do that to any of my teammates. Especially him!" She was on the verge of tears despite doing her best to be calm. Confrontation was not one of her strong suits, especially when she couldn't ice-block her way out of it. "I know he's not…He's not like most people. But he's himself, and he can be really nice, and he's smart! And also strangely more sensitive than I had thought! And I would never, ever-"

He held up one gigantic hand. "Just checking."

She gestured a palm to him in disbelief. " _Just checking_? I do not appreciate being accused of something like that."

"Don't want to deal with the fallout once we go back to base if you start pretending not to know him again. I think we've both been exposed to enough fallout. And I don't like complications."

She started to answer when he paused and grasped his hook, stomping one huge metal-spiked boot into the ground and he grunted and heaved, the heavy metal weapon spinning through the air. There was a screeching noise from further up the rocky valley, which turned into a wet gurgle. A moment later he began pulling on the chain, winding it back as he reeled in a large black and gray lizard, smearing blood on the sand where the hook had pierced its sternum.

She stared at the still-twitching body, argument caught in her throat before she swallowed it down and whispered, "W-was that just a threat?"

He looked down at her, calmly going to pry the carcass off his hook before wiping it on the ground. "No. This is a meal. It has nothing to do with my question. I don't bother with threats."

She tried to calm herself, placing a hand to her chest. She had to give him that one. The old junker was normally the silent type, and while Junkrat was the sort to spit extremely creative threats and descriptions of bodily harm at his foes, she'd never heard the bodyguard do the same. True, he would bellow and laugh after a particularly gruesome kill, but he was always very…straight-forward, as far as his rampages went.

"Well I…I also wouldn't do something like that either. That would just be cruel. But we're not…you know, I mean, we haven't…Er…" She stared down blankly at the assortment of berries in her shirt. "I don't know what it is. But I'm not some… _liáng xīn bèi gŏu chī le_. I am not going to hurt him. And I hope he won't do the same."

"All right."

"…All right? That's it?"

"Mm." He finished tying the dead goanna to the side of his belt before trundling off again. "Just wanted an answer. Come up here, there's another saltbush. I'll show you how to prepare them so you won't get the runs."

She gave him a look that was half reproach and half confusion. "Er…okay. Thanks? And I hope we're both on the same page now? Everything is good, right?"

"Mm. For now."

* * *

They returned to their campsite later on in the morning, after the sky had long since turned from the yellow of morning to the brilliant blue of day. Junkrat had already awakened and was sitting on his blanket tinkering with his grenade launcher, Mei's coat tied loosely around his shoulders. He had just finished applying a new coat of yellow paint and several new smiley-faces to the gun when he spotted his teammates arriving. "Oi! Where'd you two get off to!"

She held up one of the berries from her collection. "We decided to let you sleep in. Mr. Roadhog was teaching me about outback foraging. There should still be time for a late breakfast if you're interested…"

"Foraging? Didja get anything good? Heh, that Roadie can be a fuckin' chatterbox if you let 'im, eh? What'd you talk about, Roadie?"

Roadhog grunted.

Jamison swung upright, loping over in his uneven gait to greet Mei instead, slithering behind her and wrapping his lanky arms around her neck as he inspected the mess of fruits in her shirt. "Bush tucker berries? Lemme tell ya, those things make for some shitty smoothies. I've tried. Er…Also, think I might've stolen your bag at some point, woke up in there. And then I think I stole your coat. I mighta stolen some other things too, I forget."

"Oh. It's fine. I was a little cold this morning is all, so I asked if you'd move nearby. You were so sleepy you probably don't remember." She offered him a half-smile, hoping her little white lie would spare an awkward conversation about his sleep-cuddling. They could deal with that later. "How are you feeling?"

"Better after a good night's rest! And would feel _real_ _good_ if, ya know, maybe a lil'…" He pursed his lips and made a few exaggerated kissing sounds as he started to lean down towards her face.

"Nice try," she smirked, reaching up with her free hand to take his chin and guide his lips to land on her cheek instead.

"Aw, Mei! Shoot a bloke right through the heart, why don't ya."

"I have a feeling you'll live. Besides, Mr. Roadhog has something for you to do."

Roadhog rumbled from behind them. "Cook this."

"Huh?" He barely had time to turn about before the dead goanna was hurtling through the air, smacking him in the face as he fell backwards. "AUGH!"

He landed in a tangle of gangly limbs, peeling the lizard off him as his usual grin spread across his face. Holding it up by the tail, he dangled it in front of Mei. "See! Roadie's got the idea of it! This here's a proper breakfast! You sure you don't want? I'll save you the best paaaarts." He jiggled the dead animal back and forth temptingly.

She gave him an unimpressed look. "Vegetarian. _Wǒ bu chī ròu_. No thank you."

He had already found a knife and before she could even protest, he proceeded to lean down and slit the slain goanna straight up the middle, digging a hand inside the red wet pulp inside and holding up a palm full of small white eggs in his stained palm, thrusting them under her nose. "You sure? Look, it was a lady sort, comes with some prime outback caviar!"

Mei turned a shade greener than usual, shaking her head quickly and clapping a hand over her mouth. "Would you mind doing that behind the van?"

He looked at her blankly for a moment before her reaction seemed to hit home, nodding furiously. "Oh! Oh, roight, the veggie thing! Suppose I shouldn't be smearing this dead animal all upside your face and whatnot!"

"Thank you."

Junkrat was practically doing a jig as he went to finish his butchery. She sat down with Roadhog instead, who had approached her with a bowl of water. He lowered his immense weight to thud down next to her, and helped her along as they sorted the assortments of berries. He spoke little, occasionally muttering a correction or a new instruction as he showed her how to tell the ripe apart from the unripe, throw away the ones with the black spots, and how to carefully peel the bitter outer layers from the tiny desert fig berries. It was almost a pleasant task, mindlessly peeling and washing the stacks of forage fruit.

She couldn't help but fret slightly, remembering his words from earlier. They still burned. She hadn't really thought ahead to any repurcussions from her and Jamison's little kisses. Had Roadhog genuinely been concerned that she would 'dump him' as soon as the operation was over? Could you even dump someone if you weren't together? Were they together? She couldn't at all be sure that she and Jamison were working on the same terms of what kisses could mean or what a relationship was. Did she intend to continue things after they had returned to Gibraltar? She would have to explain to everyone what she was doing with a known agent of destruction and chaos. She'd have to deal with his strange mannerisms out in the real world. She'd have to be involved…Oh no, had Roadhog's concerns been completely warranted?

The giant junker took notice as she stopped peeling. He tilted his masked head down at her slightly, noticing her stricken expression before simply grunting and lifting himself off the ground with some trouble. "Finish these. I'll get the rest started."

He took the camp stove with him, leaving Mei there on the blanket with nothing but the bowl, the berries, and her thoughts.

It had been a spur of the moment thing. They had been getting along better than usual, had become closer through strife and then physically closer when they had kissed. And she had been sincere when she spoke of his better qualities. He could be kind, he could be generous, and he was exceedingly smart. Smarter than she had first suspected when meeting him. But for all their little tête–à–tête around the campfire, things would change once they left Australia…once they returned to the real world and real society and real people. For all his good traits, he had more than his share of bad ones. He had a temper that could change on a dime, a forgetfulness that bordered on amnesia at times, an undeniable love of pyrotechnics and destruction, and a disregard for human life that she simply could not share. She would have to be involved every time he got himself into trouble, and she had neither the physical prowess nor the silent patience of Roadhog.

She shook her head slightly, trying to clear it as she blankly resumed peeling and washing their morning's forage.

She knew the way he looked at her, but what if that was merely infatuation? Another one of his phases? For all she knew, he had fixated on and treated numerous other crushes the same way. Maybe he bothered them the way he bothered her. Like that time he had been worried about her and took half a kitchen's worth of food with him to make sure she was eating all right? All those goofy little jokes he always threw at her in an attempt to get her to smile for him? Or making her her favorite flavor teas on the offchance she'd want to drink with him, or comforting her after her mistakes with the dog back in the valley breeze, or his promises that no matter what happened or what troubles they would face, he would be there with her no matter what?…

She glanced up as she heard his high-pitched giggles from behind the van, followed by Roadhog's booming chuckle. They sounded happy.

She had told Roadhog that she was not a cruel person and had become more than a little indignant at the very thought of it, but he had been completely right to worry. She shouldn't make promises she wasn't sure she could keep. It was easy to forget that they were on official business for Overwatch, that once they left this sun-blasted desert, they would have to return to reality. Reality was where Junkrat performed poorly. Doubt was a reasonable thing to have. She was talking about a man whose idea of a good time was replacing Lucio's birthday candles with little sticks of dynamite. Which had, in all honesty, been very amusing up until she had had to help clean it all up.

She would have to sit down with Jamison and talk to him. Really, really talk to him, about what had happened. Maybe about what shouldn't have happened at all…

"Oi, Mei! You got any of that sanitizey stuff? That goanna was a real sticky one!" He rounded the corner, holding up his bloody hands, but paused when he saw the distressed posture and expression of the woman sitting with the berry bowl. "Mei…Hey, you okay? You're looking right stonkered."

She turned to him with her brows furrowed. "Jamison…I think we might need to talk."

Literally anybody else would have had the social accumen to realize the heavy weight those words always carried. Junkrat was not anybody else. He blinked owlishly at her, then his grin returned as he turned and started wiping his red-soaked hands off on a nearby rag. "Oh, sure! Ya wanna talk, we can do it after brekkie."

"Jamie…"

"Come on come on, Roadie's waitin' on ya. Best get on it and eat because trust me, he will go ahead and eat it without ya and you'll have to eat them diarrhea-bag meals all by your lonesome." He jabbed a stained thumb back behind him.

At a loss, Mei picked up her bowl full of figs and berries and followed him to their makeshift cooking area. She knew by now that the more observant Roadhog had probably guessed at her agitation, but he said nothing as he took the bowl from her, scattering the figs into a dented porridge pot he had set up over the little stove and nearly emptying an entire honeybear into it after.

Junkrat snorted. "Yeah, that's nice and all, but you will also notice that I split that goanna from skull to clacker and we are finally having a proper barbecue!" He gestured grandly to the campfire, where the butchered lizard was roasting on a makeshift metal spit. "Now that's brekkie! You two can have your figgy sludge."

"I caught it, I get half the lizard too," Roadhog answered flatly. " _That's_ brekkie."

"Oi, rack off!"

Mei smiled despite herself as she watched the pair dissolve into another argument, calmly ladling the porridge meal into her bowl and taking a bite. The fresh figs were slightly gritty in texture, but their natural sweetness was a godsend after the cloying preservative tastes of their other options. She went back for seconds, and even a portion of thirds, whilst listening to the two junkers fight over the lizard. Roadhog eventually settled for the rest of the fig oatmeal and a smaller chunk of the lizard meat. Mei noticed that this time he didn't turn away from them as he ate, simply lifting up his pig mask to reveal a wide rounded chin, peppered with white-gray beard hairs and severely burnt on one side, his chapped and scarred lips blindly reaching out for the spoonfuls of food he couldn't really see. It was a little strange to see even that sliver of his real face, surprisingly so, as she had become so used to the expressionless pig mask that she sometimes forgot he was a real person underneath it.

Junkrat hunched over his own meal like a covetous vulture, tearing off steaming bits of flesh with his hands and shoving them into his jaws. It was all a bit primal for Mei's liking, but at least he had stopped offering the slaughtered animal to her. She was more content with her fig and honey meal, followed by the salty-sweet ruby berries they had gathered earlier. She would have to write about their foraging adventure later, and take notes about this Australian method of survival.

In fact, she had almost forgotten about her notes altogether.

She set her bowl aside, moving to the back of the van and digging around. "Have either of you seen my phone?"

Junkrat looked up, his mouth full of lizard. "Hh?"

"My phone, where is it?"

"Oh, yeah! I forgot to tell ya! Your little robot thing and your phone started beepin' a lot, and it got real annoying and I yelled at it to shut up, but it wouldn't, but I knew you'd be pissed if I shut it up all the way, so I just threw them in that box there and put stuff on top so they'd be quiet!"

Mei paused, then resumed her search in earnest, literally throwing things out of the back of the van. "What!? When!"

"Oh, I dunno. Hours back. Woke me up, so I just put 'em-"

"Oh no. Oh no no no no…" She could hear the beeping now, pulling off mounds of blankets, tarps, and other supplies from one of the larger boxes as the sound got louder and louder. A moment later as she tossed another blanket aside, Snowball immediately hovered out and circled around her, still shrilling an alert call. She grabbed onto it with one arm, as if trying to comfort the little bot as she flicked on her phone. The screen was flashing red and still beeping with the mandarin signals for WARNING scrolling past. She immediately opened it up and began reading through the backlogged messages. "Jamie! You should have told me earlier!"

"What, that your robot was being an annoying cunt and wakin' people up?"

"Snowball was trying to warn us! Look, it's more than just my assistant drone, Snowball has short range weather-reading capabilities too…it's picked something up." She adjusted her glasses, still scrolling through the messages.

Junkrat rocked back and forth uneasily as he watched Mei's expression turn more and more alarmed. "Uh…I didn't…I didn't know."

She threw her phone aside and hurried back towards the camp, waving her arms. "Roadhog! Get up, get up, get up, pack everything you can! We have to go _NOW_."


	11. Chapter 11

Camp was broken and packed away in record time, thrown haphazardly into the van as Roadhog's bike roared off to lead them out of the canyon, Junkrat taking the wheel of the van yet again while Mei was sprawled out on the dirty floor in the back of the van, battered paper maps and notes spread around her as her phone continually blared out updates, a holographic topography map flickering above it, numbers scrolling and sections of the sky occasionally lighting up. Snowball was set fully to surveillance mode, even its emoticon eyes and personality programs shut down as the little drone sat motionless. It unnerved Mei a bit to see her normally cheerful companion suddenly so 'lifeless', but there was nothing for it. She was only getting half signals, if that, with Snowball's capabilities blocked in by the rocky walls, and the incoming data was a confusing mish-mash she was struggling to decipher properly.

"How we doing back there, darl? What's the scoop?" Junkrat sent the van flying over a divot in the road with a bump, sending Mei sliding across the floor as she tried to keep her materials still.

"Still working on it! Once we get into a more open area I should be able to get a better idea."

"Well once we clear through here, we're out in the wasteland proper and won't have much choice on where we can go. Red zone ain't exactly known for its highway upkeep, ya know, and this thing won't make it over sand."

"Well the map said we should be able to reach the drop point by late this afternoon. Once we move away from the cliffs, Snowball should be able to read a bit better. I can't pinpoint where the storm is or how big it is right now, we need to keep going."

"You're the boss, boss!" He pressed his boot down on the gas a little harder, and Mei promptly skidded the other way on the floor as they careened over another bump.

She continued compiling her notes and Snowball's updates. Her brows knitted slightly, watching the numbers on her display change. Throwing herself back into the front seat once more, she rolled down her window and hung her entire upper body out, trying to get a better view of the sky. "Oh dear…"

"…What's oh dear? You shouldn't be oh dearing anything."

"I think it's going to be coming in from the south, southeast. It's coming in from behind, to our right."

"Behind us? See, I told ya those storms was some evil omnic shit, now they're _chasing_ us!"

"Well, maybe if you hadn't put Snowball in a trash can because it was trying to help you, we'd have more of a head start!" She held the little robot out the window as much as she dared, until only the tops of her thighs were resting on the rolled-down window, holding Snowball up to try and get a better reading.

One long arm launched out and snagged Mei by the bottom of her shirt, the other still clenching the wheel as he held her steady from falling out. "Oi, ONE TIME! Never gonna let me live that one down?!"

"I want to let you live it down, if we live!" She was pulled back inside abruptly as they went through another narrow portion of the canyon, the van rattling and bumping, mechanical parts squeaking as she dove back into the cargo to check on the equipment. "Hope whoever was at Lucky's Station got out in time, it probably went right over them."

"Couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of blokes," Junkrat grumbled.

Mei didn't answer him, already back to dangling out of the window as she waved her little robot around in the air almost as if she was praying. The absolute madwoman. The junker sighed, once again grabbing at her to keep her in check, this time snagging the elastic of her leggings and pulling them taut as she leaned out. With his eyes on the road, he didn't even get the chance to really enjoy what sort of panties she was wearing or anything.

"Ugh," he sighed. "Why am I always the responsible one around here?"

* * *

The rocky cliff faces were beginning to get shorter and the road was widening again as they continued on. The only time they even afforded a pause was to stop and dump another canister of gas into the tanks. Even then, there was an eerie breeze coming from behind them, whistling through the passes and tunnels, and there was a drop in pressure that always heralded a coming storm, along with Junkrat's whining that it made his missing leg hurt.

The canyons finally gave way to open land, cliffs becoming larger, more scattered boulders as they shot free, back into the desert proper. Before them stretched miles upon miles upon miles of orange-red sand dunes, stark against the harsh blue of the sky, but blurred in the middle where sandstorms constantly blew dust to obscure the horizon. Very far off, so far she could only make it out as specks of white and gray amongst the red, were large and twisted metal structures that she knew to be debris from the ruined omnium. The omnium itself had been absolutely massive when it was still functioning, miles upon miles of omnic-made factory architecture. Even as far away as she was, she knew those derelict metal bits must have been equally massive, probably several stories tall on their own. The explosion must have been unimaginable to rip such structures apart on that scale. There had even been reports of irradiated metal shards landing out in the ocean, killing whatever had lived around them and resulting in the northern waters being dotted with 'dead zones', the underwater versions of the great desert. Australia had truly been nearly destroyed from it all, and had never really recovered.

They passed a weather-beaten sign that had originally been painted red and white, warning them of high radiation levels and unpredictable environmental dangers. They had included a lot of skull and crossbones symbols for emphasis. Mei returned to her seat to get a better look, holding onto her rattling glasses. The roads here had never been properly paved, and consisted of little more than stamped-down dirt and bits of gravel amongst the sand.

"Ya know," Jamison remarked conversationally, "Not my first time past the red zone."

"Oh?"

"Yep. Got real desperate and real brave one day, thought I'd go poke around and see if I could dig anything up what was worth a damn."

"How far did you get? Didn't you know about the radiation? We're barely into it at all and Snowball's giving us radiation warnings," she pointed to her phone.

"Wasn't thinking so much about the radiation so much as how fuckin' hungry I was. So, I figured I'd go a bit further than usual, where nobody else wanted to go, see if I could find anything."

"Did you? Find anything, I mean?"

He grinned at her, teeth baring. "Yeah."

She was still tapping at her phone. "Well? What did you find?"

"Secret! Eeheeheehee!"

She halted, giving him somewhat of a stink-eye. "Why did you even bring it up, then! That's mean."

"That's for ol' Jamison to know and for you to get your curiosity romantically peaked to find out! What does he have? What does he know? What's he all about? You feel that curiosity, love, that stirrin' in your loins that makes you wanna know more? I'm a puzzle you just got to solve. I'm an enigma, Mei."

She covered her face with her palm, laughing slightly. "Not sure 'enigma' is the word I'd use."

"Oi! That's cold. You stick around with me long enough, maybe one day I'll show you me treasure."

"Stop being lewd, Jamie."

"No, no! I mean, literally, my _treasure_! What I found in th-"

The phone shrilled out another ear-splitting alert call and Mei jumped, juggling her phone in both hands before turning it right-side up and scrolling through the new data. "Ahh! Okay, Snowball's got a better signal now, the storm's…" Her voice trailed off as she surveyed the new measurements, face going slightly gray. Holding her bun with one hand to keep her hair from her eyes, she stuck herself back out the window, turning around to look behind them.

Junkrat glanced to his mirror, did a double-take, and then stared, the van slowing down and stopping as he eased his foot off the pedal. "…Hooley dooley…Yep, that's a big'un."

Behind them, with the rocks of the canyonlands still visible on the horizon, crested an enormous cloud. Mei had seen storms before. She had seen hurricanes ripping houses out of the ground like picking weeds, snowstorms that had leveled entire forests, and hail ice-stones the size of softballs. She had never seen anything like this. The cloud was creeping over the cliff tops like a living thing, rolling in like a tide, circulating and undulating and clawing forward, growing larger and larger, forward and forward and up and up and up…The tops of the clouds were deep black, fading down into swirling spirals of poisonous bright red, tinged with greens and purples and yellows and unnatural colors she'd never seen, like the breeze she had seen days back in the valley but far worse. The breeze had been little more than the dying breath of one of these types of storms…and this one was very much alive.

Lightning crackled in its depths, lighting up chartreuse and violet as it flashed through its own choking dust. And despite its immense size, it was still too far away to hear its thunder. It was a spectacle, silent and forboding, a portent of doom that ate the lines between land and sky as it advanced steadily, with no signs of stopping. It couldn't even be said to be a force of nature. Nature had never made such a thing before. This was something unnatural, something purely monstrous, born from the hatred of omnic and man. No wonder so many feared these storms. For many Australians, she knew, this would be one of the last things they ever saw.

She found herself reaching out, not even sure for what, dumbfounded as she stared. She needed an anchor, something to bring her back, and found it when Junkrat's mechanical hand grasped hers, once more pulling her back into her seat. He was no longer grinning, sitting her down firmly and pointing to where Roadhog was impatiently revving his engine up ahead, also staring at the incoming red storm.

"C'mon, Mei, that's one of them, and it's coming in right quick. Tell us what t'do."

She reached up, patting her cheeks roughly as if the sting would put her head right again. "Keep going down this road. We definitely can't go back now, so keep going forward. There's going to be a crosscurrent just after the drop-point for the eco-station. It'll send the storm westward and should keep us clear. Might get some dust on us and the radiation's still an issue, but we'll miss the brunt of it if we can reach the rocks and take shelter from the downdraft. I think. Probably. Snowball's having trouble keeping up with these storm readings, and what I do get is very confusing. This is…I've never seen this before."

"Welcome to Australia, mate," he replied glibly, rolling down his window and yelling the new instructions to Hog, who turned and took the lead once more.

The van kicked back into high gear, shambling down the road after the other junker. Mei was still busy with her attempts to decipher the chaotic wind current readings Snowball was picking up everywhere in the atmosphere. Little wonder that no aircraft could fly over the continent anymore. Everything above them was utter madness. Occasionally she'd stop and look back at the oncoming red storm. It had eaten the cliffs, tumbling over and through them and had now reached the sand plains they were driving on, still flashing with radioactive lightning that was now accompanied by the distant rumble of thunder, happening so fast and so frequently that it was almost growling.

Junkrat was gnawing anxiously at a piece of jerky, not even eating it so much as just chewing on it, like his rodent namesake. Mei was checking over her topography map once again, scrawling out math on one of the papers on her lap. "So here's the plan. We just keep this speed up until we reach the drop. We'll pass the drop, shelter behind the rocks here, and then the storm system should head west and out of our path. Everything behind it will follow it once the front shifts, and then we can just double back, set up the station, and head back out."

"You got it." He seemed a little calmer, taken in by her confident demeanor and his trust in her. He even started cracking jokes again as they rode along, passing sand-scoured boulders and twisted hunks of useless scrap metal on both sides.

It was a good plan, she thought. Her calculations seemed at least fairly accurate so far. Once they got behind the rocks, they could simply wait an hour or two and then complete their mission. After that, she could connect her phone to the much more powerful station, find out the safest path out, and follow it all the way back to civilization. Iodine pills and a few shots would help with the radiation poisoning. Then, she could have her awkward talk with Junkrat, console him with a barbecue meal and one of his favorite bobas, and then she could take at least a dozen showers in a row. Nice, cold showers, with high pressure water, and soap and shampoo, and a proper bed with cozy blankets, and mindless television to fall asleep to. It was a good plan.

They were still hours out from the drop point when there was a screech and then a popping noise from the engine, something mechanical hitting something else mechanical, which hit something else and then was caught between the gears of something else, as thick black smoke started to pour from the hood. Both driver and passenger wore expressions of dull shock as the vehicle shuddered and rolled to a stop. Roadhog immediately doubled back and pulled over, and both junkers set upon the smoking engine with a fervor, Junkrat beating back flames with one of the blankets as Hog stuck his arms into the still-burning engine block, tools scraping and clicking as they desperately tried to figure out what had gone wrong.

Mei stood uselessly out to the side, Snowball's lifeless little metal body held in both arms and phone blaring louder and louder as she stood staring at the massive tempest roaring across the desert at them. This couldn't be happening. The van wasn't supposed to break down. It had gotten them this far. It couldn't break down now, not literally in the middle of the wasteland. Junkrat must have been pushing it too hard. Because she had told him to. Because if they had slowed down, the storm would have caught them and they would have died. And now they had blown the engine, the storm would catch them, and they would die.

She turned Snowball's self-pilot back on. No weather calculations were going to help them now. She watched the junkers arguing, taking things apart and putting them back together, hopping back into the driver's seat and trying the key, only to yell that nothing was working and starting from the beginning. And with every passing minute, the snarling of the clouds was growing louder and the chaotic face of the red storm was getting closer, the winds fleeing the front as sand went skittering past them.

"Can you fix it?" she asked softly, as Junkrat went scuttling by with a wrench in both hands.

"Hog says the connecting rod's fucked. It's bad. He's trying a thing, but-"

"No. No, it's too risky. I'm calling it here. We need to go, now." she shook her head.

"Nah, love! Just, just give us a minute, Hog's fixed all sorts of crazy shit! We can still…we can still-"

"We don't have minutes! I'm calling the mission, we need to get ourselves out. Leave the equipment. We can use Roadhog's bike. I'll sit on your lap, or behind him-"

Roadhog sighed in resignation, rubbing his hands as he turned his mask's lenses to the flashing red clouds on the horizon. "No."

She felt her breath seize. They were running out of precious time and needed to leave. "No? Why no?"

"Bike can't carry three people, the sidecar, and enough gas to keep us going on dirt. We'll be scoured alive once it reaches us." He wheezed another heavy sigh.

She put both hands to her forehead, trying to stave off the numbness of oncoming panic. "…Take Jamison. They won't blame you. Overwatch already has contingencies set for the event of a casualty. I'll see if…maybe I'll have a few minutes to set up the eco-station before I-"

"Mei. It ain't happening." Jamie looked away, spitting into the dirt.

Mei turned to Snowball, who was repeating its 'sweatdrop' nervous face over and over again. "No! No, you can still- Snowball! Do two passengers have time to make it to event location X?"

The little bot uttered its 'sad' beep.

Her ashen face turned to look to Roadhog, who was watching the oncoming storm in silence. "Does one passenger have time to make it to event location X."

Sad beep.

She sat down in the sand, hands tangled in her hair. Her mind was racing. She was the mission leader, she was smart, she had them counting on her to get them through. She had to think. There had to be something. What was she good for? Weather calculations? They didn't need a climatologist to tell them that the red storm bearing down on them was extremely bad news. Navigation? There was nowhere to navigate to in this wasteland, nowhere they could reach in time. Their only vehicles were busted or useless. She was ready, willing even, to sacrifice herself somehow, if it meant her teammates would leave alive. But there was no sacrifice she could make, nothing she could do to help them. "I'm sorry…I'm so, so sorry…"

Junkrat had been galvanized into action as well, and was talking to himself at a mile a minute, his hair flaring up once more as he ran about, tying tarps over the bullet-damaged van's exterior and draping the insides with blankets, stuffing rags into holes and covering the broken engine. He poised himself behind the van and began literally digging like a dog, hands ripping through the poisoned red sand as he started to try and pile it onto the makeshift shelter. "All right! So it's gonna come in, it's gonna hit us and then the red's gonna start getting in, and it chokes ya so don't breathe too much of it in! We're just gonna hide, and we ain't gonna breathe, and we're gonna wait until it leaves! Fuckin' omnics! Fuckin' bots what did this! I'll get 'em, I'll get every last one, when I get outta here-" Sand continued to fly through the air, the younger junker still mindlessly digging.

Roadhog looked between the two, watching his younger partners melting down in two completely different ways. With one last long glare at the red clouds, he strode forward and picked up the weepy-eyed Mei, holding her against one shoulder before calmly walking over towards the frantic Junkrat, shrugging off his attempts to bite and kick as he snagged him by the scrawny waist and carried him like a thrashing football. Shouldering the van door open, he sat both of them down amidst the mess of cargo in the back before sliding the door closed behind them a final time.

"You sit down," he commanded, throwing Junkrat back again as he went for the door. Mei also stood up, starting to try and plug up more of the bullet holes, her glasses smeared with tears as she felt two gigantic hands take her around the middle and haul her right back to her spot. "You sit down too. Both of you sit down."

"There has to be something we can do, there's always something. We should put on our masks, put the blankets on, something," Mei sniffled, wiping her glasses on her shirt.

"…It's not going to matter," Hog responded gently, slamming a hand on top of Junkrat's ribcage to keep him in place and away from the door. "Shit happens. Won't do any good now. So we're going to sit here, and you say whatever you gotta say while you can say it."

"I just wish there was something to get you out. I did this to both of you, I got it wrong. I killed…I killed everyone! Again!" She buried her face in her hands.

Part of Roadhog's forehead wrinkled slightly, hinting at a raised brow. "We both signed on for this. Wasn't the first time heading into danger in the outback. We knew what it might be. Storm'll kill us. Not you." He patiently let Mei burble to herself, twisting Junkrat's arm a bit as he squirmed. "Isn't that right, Rat?"

"Eat a dick, Roadie!" Junkrat replied promptly, baring his sharp teeth. Roadhog sighed and bodily sat him upright, turning him towards Mei's sobbing form. His enraged expression twitched, then slowly fell into something more dour, finally ceasing his thrashing and prompting his bodyguard to finally let go of him. "Oi, Mei. Don't be like that, you ain't killed us or nobody. Hey…Hey, c'mon." Anger turned to concern as he scooted up against her, metal hand pulling her in against his side. "C'mon, don't cry, please stop crying. You ain't a cryer."

Sand began to patter against the metal of the van, and the light flooding in was slowly starting to dim and take on a distinct reddish hue. Mei shook her head, wiping at her face in frustration. "I am, though. I'm sorry. About everything…"

Junkrat gave her a watery half-smile. "Naw, don't be sorry you crazy li'l bird, we gave it a good fuckin' shot, we did! Hey, you said earlier this morning that you wanted to talk, right? Well, we're talking! So, we're getting all sorts of things done!" He pulled her onto his lap and she let it happen, wrapping both gangly arms around her and rocking her from side to side. Comforting others was not something that happened in the outback. He usually never gave, nor received, comfort, and the awkwardness of his attempts was making him feel a little nauseous. But he'd be damned before he stood by and simply let Mei cry her eyes out as her last acts on earth, so he tried things that he'd seen others do, things his own mum had done in whatever foggy memories he still had. He stroked her hair and made little shushing noises, muttered that it was going to be all right even though it wasn't going to be, rubbed his hands up and down her arms, and held her as close as he dared.

Thunder reverberated through the van, shaking them to their bones as the distant howl of the wind started to grow louder. But Mei's crying had abated at least, tucking her head in under his chin with a final shuddering sigh. Only a few days ago she and Jamison had been speaking about death, about the life that had been stolen from each of them, life they would never get to know. That she had a missing past and he would never have a future. Perhaps this was just how fate was. They wouldn't have to worry about dying old or dying young. They were going to die now, crammed together in this miserable little farce of a shelter as the red storms ripped them apart like it had so many others, that it would do to so many more now that they had failed.

Roadhog sat with his hands draped between his knees, head bowed as his pig mask wheezed softly in the growing darkness. "Mako," he said. Mei turned her eyes to him, but he didn't look up. "My real name was Mako."

"…It was very nice to meet you, Mako," she replied softly.

"Mm."

The sand was blowing steadily against the sides of the van now, wind whistling and thunder a non-stop deep roar, and the shrieking train-like noise that she knew was the actual face of the storm as it got nearer and nearer, light flashing from the chaotic electricity storms that would soon be raging over them. Jamison leaned back against one of the cargo boxes, his yellow eyes dull and far-off as he stared blankly at the ceiling, his metal hand slowly tightening around her waist. Mako sat unmoving, facing his fate with the same silent stoicism as he had faced life. Mei was left alone with her thoughts and the rapid booming of Jamie's heart where her head rested on his chest. It was not that the three of them had never seen death. Mako had died along with his country and his cause, and Roadhog had been born in the ashes. Jamison had seen death too many times to count, had laughed in its face, and then left death bewildered as he ran off to chase after some distraction or other. Mei had also died, been revived and pulled from the silence of her tomb, and now was going to die again. Would it be different? Now she would die by fire and sand instead of ice…

Ice…

* * *

Her eyes flew open.

Ice.

She pushed away from Junkrat abruptly, startling him as she wrenched out of his arms and practically somersaulting towards the front seat. Mako glanced up with an exasperated slump of the shoulders and was about to haul her back yet again when she stood up, pulling on her cryo-blaster and fluid canister. She began fumbling with various knobs and dials, sweat glistening on her forehead as lightning lit up the world outside.

Jamison gave her a baffled look. "What're you doing?"

"Jamie, I need for you to hug me when I say, then Roadh…sorry, Mako, I need you to kneel down as compact as you can get, and hug Jamie."

The younger junker wrinkled his nose. "I'm all for lovin' on each other as we go out, here, but-" He didn't have time to finish as he was dragged from his sitting position, smushed against Mako's gut. "Ow! What're _you_ doing, ya drongo!"

"Quiet. Are you sure about this, Mei?"

"No."

Mei's mind raced with numbers and measurements as more sand started to blow into the now mostly dark van, coughing aloud as she turned the lever all the way to one side. There was no time for measurements, no time for complexities. She set everything to maximum, to empty out the canister and all back-up cryo-liquid in one go. It was now or never. She dove into the melee of body parts that made up the junkers, squeezing herself against Jamie's bony chest as Mako knelt down over both of them, pinning the now newly-panicked Junkrat.

"Wait! No, darl! No, I don't like the cold!"

"Three!"

"Fuck! Fuck you, fuck you, fuck-!"

"Two!"

"I ain't-"

She didn't bother reciting the last number, pulling the trigger as bright blue spread outward, encompassing each in turn in one enormous glacier of crystallized and compact ice. All sound became muffled, even the roaring thunder unable to penetrate her shell, nothing except her own pulse…and this time, the two other pulses right next to hers, one frightened and rapid, the other large and booming and steady as ever. Her eyes remained softly closed, and as always, she let herself count down from ten. Only this time, there would be no bursting out of her ice-block to rejoin a battle. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't break this one. Everything had gone into this last-ditch attempt at survival, just like last time. Just like last time, she faintly wondered if she would wake up alone, if the chill would stop those two other hearts in the ice with her…

She counted down to one. No more wondering. No more worrying. No more anything.

She let the cold darkness take her once more.


	12. Chapter 12

Roadhog had never been cryogenically frozen before. This was something new to him. Like most denizens of the outback, he avoided the cold. But, there had been little choice between the possibility of death in the ice, or the certainty of death in the storm. So, holding both his younger partners against him and taking in one last wheezing breath, he had steeled himself against the onslaught of ice that covered him, rushing over him in a chill so cold that it burned like fire. After that, there had been little time to think. He was vaguely aware of the feeling that he was dying, but then that faded along with everything else. For some time, he was not sure how long, he no longer existed. There was no pain, but no dreams either, a simple nothingness.

For a while, that was okay.

But then sensation began to return to him. The ice was thinning, the cold was lessening, and as it receded, it revealed more and more of his gargantuan body beneath it. He waited patiently, adjusting to the relative warmth of reality, becoming more and more aware of his own consciousness, until he realized that he was cold, and that the cold was hurting him. With a rumbling growl, he fought against it the same way he fought against everything, smashing and punching and surging forward with all his strength as he tore himself from the freezing prison, the ice cracking and shattering and landing in razor-sharp shards all around him as he lunged free.

There was daylight, and the skies were as blue as he'd ever seen them, dotted with fluffy white clouds. The storm was long gone, and the only evidence that it had ever been there was the utter wreckage all around them. The van had been ripped apart, twisted almost in two. The windshield and all glass had been shattered and in some places, melted. The doors had been torn away, and the roof was peeled like a sardine can, little remaining but the metal frame of it. Their belongings, what hadn't been blocked in by the ice, were scattered in the sand or missing altogether.

He turned to check on the others, but Junkrat and Mei were still fully ensconced in their cryo-prison, Junkrat's expression frozen into angry, terrified shock, his eyes open but unseeing. Even further in, at the heart of the source, was the tiny fetal-position form of Mei, barely visible through the blue-white of the ice. Roadhog was not entirely sure what to do. Again, his first thought was to simply break things, break them free and break them out. But even his massive strength was not enough to make much progress, and when a crack finally began to appear, he became aware that shattering the ice might shatter the bodies within.

So he turned and instead concentrated on salvaging what could be still be salvaged, and waited for them.

Moving about was somewhat painful, his muscles aching as he collected things from the derelict van. By some miracle only one of the water canisters had broken open, and the entire desert was littered with those horrible MRE packets. Food and water, the highest priorities in the outback, were checked off first. Their blankets and clothes had been distributed widely around as well, some with tears in them, and one of Mei's brassieres was hanging and waving like a cheerful flag from a broken piece of metal door. He decided to spare her the embarrassment if she lived, and returned it to the pile back in the van. The van was a completely lost cause, and his bike had not fared very much better. It had been knocked down and buried in the sand, the sidecar twisted and the hitch broken, and the engine had been ripped completely off, but at least the wheels were still attached.

He was halfway through unearthing the rest of the sidecar when he heard movement. Returning to the wreckage, he found a delirious Junkrat trying to claw himself from the ice, mumbling gibberish and making little confused animal-sounds as he was slowly liberated from his prison, chunks of it falling away and splintering into pretty little snow-like motes as Hog helped pull him out. The light still hadn't come back on in his eyes, a dull umber where they should have been gold, and his teeth were chattering and he was shaking wildly, his scrawny body unable to stabilize its own temperature. With a grumble, Roadhog sat down and seized him in one massive arm, dragging him forward and holding him against his side despite the discomfort of the younger junker's still-chilled form pressing against him, hand resting on his quivering bony back. Junkrat clung to the source of warmth as though his life depended on it, letting the heat from the older junker's body add to the heat of the outback sun. Eventually his shivering subsided and he looked up, eyes blazing yellow again as he gave his usual sneering gold-toothed grin.

"You smell like shit, mate."

Roadhog shoved him away and returned to scavenging through the debris. Junkrat rubbed both gangly arms, shuddering as the living radiator left him, his eyes widening as he took notice of the destruction all around them. "Fuck me running, Roadie, ain't this something? How long were we out? You remember anything? I don't remember nothing except little…I dunno, I think I saw bits of things, or maybe I didn't. Where was I, again?"

"Don't know how long it was," he grunted in reply. "Don't know how long it'll be before the next one. But lots of storms in the red zone. Once she's up, we need to get moving."

"Where we moving, mate? Lucky's is a fuckin' trek backward, don't suppose your bike is still working? Looks like a scrap heap at the moment." Junkrat fiddled with several knobs on the radio, tried Mei's black-screened phone, and even prodded several times at the dented husk of Snowball, who had been laying inactive half-buried in the sand inside the wrecked van. All remained dark. "Electrics are fried. Can't be callin' nobody."

Roadhog paused at that, turning options over in his head before nodding. "We're walking blind. Closest thing I can figure is an old safehouse one of my old employers used to have. If it's still around, it's our best bet. Go see if you can find the tools. We still have wheels, we'll just have to push."

Junkrat groaned and slumped over so hard he practically fell into the sand. "I thought our busted bike-pushing days were over!"

"Tools. Go get them," he answered firmly. "Can fill the sidecar with what we need and haul it on foot."

"…Don't suppose there's room in the sidecar for a tiny lil' rat?" Junkrat grinned, then cringed at the look he received. "Bite my fuckin' head off then, Roadie. Fine!"

The two junkers spent the afternoon struggling to get the bike in rolling order, as the hitch to the sidecar had bent so severely that it had nearly broken in two, and Roadhog tried different methods of connecting them instead. Junkrat, apparently refreshed from his ice nap, chattered incessantly; so much so that he'd been ordered to go 'stand guard' over Mei just to get him to shut up for a while. Roadhog had had all of about thirty seconds of peace and focus when Junkrat began simply talking to the unconscious woman instead.

"Oi, Mei! Thought I'd keep you company, just in case you could hear me. Not sure you can hear anything at all in there…but I'm here. Your ice thingy worked. I mean, it wasn't great, but it worked. I mean, you know it worked, you're still in there. If you want me to shut my yap, just tap on the ice three times… No? Roight, let me tell _you_ about the day I've had!"

* * *

Evening fell, the bike was sitting in the sand with the sidecar finally attached, and packed full with water, food, bedrolls, and other necessities. Neither of the junkers had known what to do with Mei's eco-station, the impenetrable silver boxes seemingly unharmed despite the severity of the storm. They had simply tied it on top and meant to ask her later.

But 'later' was indeed becoming later and later. The sun had set and the little climatologist remained silent and entombed. Her colleagues were forced to make camp for the night, and Junkrat started a tiny fire with the remains of the the shattered wooden crates. Both were ravenously hungry, eating several meals apiece, and Roadhog had actually snarled at Junkrat when he tried stealing a hunk of his cornbread, sending him flying with little more than a flick of one arm. Rebuffed, Junkrat skulked back into the van once more to check on things, before his wail cut through the night. "ROADHOG! ROADIE!"

Hog threw his meal to the side, hauling himself at top speed to the other side of the ruined vehicle, and found his partner hugging the newly-liberated Mei. But Junkrat was frantic, shaking her and patting her face as she lay draped in his lap, soaked with cold water and bits of ice, and Roadhog saw her limbs were limp and her face was a ghostly gray pallor and despite all of Junkrat's attempts, she was unresponsive.

"She was on the floor not making any noise or anything, Roadie! She's cold and she aint' breathin'!" He jammed an ear against her chest. "Can't hear nothing…ugh, damn tits are in the way! Never thought I'd curse these tits! Move! Still can't hear anything!" He rose with her held in both arms, holding her out in a plaintive motion, as though asking for help with a broken toy; but his expressions twitched madly, worrying his lip until it bled, and his gaze was pleading. "Fix it! Fix her!"

Roadhog took her from him, tucking her in one arm as he patted her face with two fingers, pressed them into her chest, and leaned down to listen for her breath as he pried her mouth open. Very, very faintly, there came a fading wet rattle, but that was all. Junkrat danced helplessly nearby, shifting rapidly from leg to peg and back again, watching as Hog reached up to the top of his head. There was a clicking noise, then the straps loosened and he pulled off the entire pig mask, Setting it over her face and pulling the straps until they latched, he held out one hand. Junkrat immediately shoved one of the familiar yellow canisters into his palm as Roadhog twisted the gas canister into place, pulling the tab and activating it. The hogdrogen flooded the mask but Mei's chest remained still. At a loss, Roadhog suddenly grasped the pig's snout and pressed it as hard as he could. The gas, with nowhere else to go, invaded Mei's mouth and nose and caused her to spasm violently, her back arching and ribs heaving as breath was forced into her. Roadhog squeezed the mask several more times, until the canister had emptied.

Both junkers watched as the mask was removed, crowding in to listen…as Mei's chest rose and fell with a shallow cough and there was the soft noise of respiration once more, albeit weakly. Junkrat immediately began caterwauling in victory, while Roadhog sat back with a bemused "I don't think Dr. Ziegler would appreciate what just happened." He left the mask on her face, scratching at the gray-white stubble on his scarred chin. With the girl out, he didn't have to worry about curious eyes trying to see his face.

"I won't tell the doc if you don't, mate. Blimey, she's still all blue in the lips. Give 'er here, I'll warm her up." He opened his arms, then frowned when Roadhog made no move to transfer the sad little package.

"Not yet. She needs more than a blanket and a bag of bones…and she's still not breathing right. Before you ask, no, you can't use the mask on her. Or ever." He carried her out and sat before the fire, ignoring Rat's complaints. The little scientist had taken the brunt of the damage from the cold, being next to its very source, and had suffered badly for it. Covering her back in one of the blankets, he simply plopped down with her still tucked in one arm, almost cradling her as she had recovered enough to start shivering. Her breathing became labored, and Hog dutifully replaced the mask on her and popped another canister, letting her breathe in more of its fumes until she stabilized once more.

Junkrat sullenly started in on another bag of food, shoving a dehydrated and dessicated porkchop-like substance into his jaws. "I coulda warmed her up, ya know. I'm real good at it. Now I'm gonna be up all night all worried, bet you anything."

"Mm."

* * *

Hours later, Junkrat was soundly asleep, having pulled his bedroll up next to Roadhog and firmly attached himself to his calf, hugging himself to it as he snored next to the dying fire. Hog himself was slumped to one side in half-slumber, the pig mask still half-covering Mei's face as he listened to her breathing. It wasn't the first night he'd stayed awake all night to watch over those who needed it.

It reminded him so much of her...

Her breathing was steady for now, a steady in and out. The medicine seemed to have worked, what a relief. He sat just listening to it, letting it lull him. She was usually a more fitful sleeper, but seemed more lethargic tonight, probably because she was sick again. She got sick so easily, this was the third time this month. She'd probably be hungry when she got better and her appetite returned. He'd need to stop by the store again.

She squirmed a bit in his arm and he shifted at the movement, well used to her fussing. He merely leaned his face in his other hand, eyes shut as he rocked her slightly; just a very slight back and forth as he adjusted her blanket and watched the lamp make animal-shapes that moved slowly across the ceiling. He tried humming, his deep baritone crooning the notes of her favorite song…the lyrics had something to do with baby bumble bees, he could never remember them, but remembered the tune. He'd hummed it a thousand times.

There was a voice, whispering to him from the little bundle in his arms.

"…Mako?…Jamie?…"

Something in his brain lurched to the surface. Those names. His name and something else. This was wrong. She shouldn't be talking. She couldn't be talking. She didn't speak. She was so young.

 _His daughter._

 _She never got the chance._

 _Not after what he did…_

His eyes flew open, humming cut off as he awoke and looked down. Mei was stirring and trying to look up at him, though her gaze was still far off and uncomprehending. She whispered again, something in Chinese that he couldn't understand. She had stopped shivering and was breathing on her own now, but still wasn't quite with them yet. But it was enough. He stood quickly, learning down to pry his partner's arms from around his leg. Junkrat's face scrunched unhappily, until Hog unzipped the side of his bedroll and quietly deposited Mei inside with him. Rat's arms found her immediately, wrapping around her and pulling close, stilling her unrest as her squirming and muttering stopped, expression blanking back to something more peaceful.

Satisfied that the two would keep each other pacified and warm for the rest of the night. Roadhog moved back to his own side of the fire, kicking out his bedroll as he sprawled out on top of it, latching the pig mask back into place over his face and pulling the buckles tight, the comforting grind of the air filters returning and the blank lenses covering his eyes as he closed them again.

Perhaps he needed to sleep after all. Perhaps he'd not fully recovered from the cryo-freeze as much as he'd thought. Though at least the cryo-freeze had one vague comfort he'd enjoyed.

At least there, he didn't have to dream.

* * *

Mei awoke, truly awoke, the next morning as the sun rose, the harsh light causing her eyes to twitch under her lids. Awareness came back to her slowly, the waking mind chasing away the hallucinations she'd been fighting for hours; the faces of her dead eco-team silently watching her as she pleaded with them to come back, her mother and father locked in ice as she struggled to claw them free, visions of Jamison walking away over the horizon and his burning features becoming the sun, and the faint tunes of someone singing to her.

She turned in the bedroll and realized someone was holding onto her, and the source of heat was a set of bony ribs, a gasoline odor, boa-constrictor arms, and a familiar voice that slurred a bit just above her. "Nnh…Got ya, darl. Ya there?"

She coughed a bit, and it was wet and deep and caused him to squeeze her tighter. "Don't…feel so great."

He shuffled down a bit in the bedroll until her could look her in the eye. "Thought you were gone, for a while. Feelin' shitty is a lot better than feelin' nothing at all."

He was right. She was alive. She still felt like shards of ice were stuck deep inside her, hurting her all over, but she was alive. And the others with her, they were alive and she wasn't alone. She grabbed onto him as much as she could with her weakened limbs, felt him embrace her in return. He was still here, and he was real, and he was so warm. He was flesh and bone under her fingertips, the heat melting away the coldness in her. "Jamie…I'm sorry. I'm sorry about everything. I didn't want to…"

He stifled a little chuckle, his ribs stuttering against her. "Don't start that again, Mei. It was shit, I won't lie, but it sure beats dying in the red. You did good. Just glad you're b-"

Tears squeezed from her eyes as she managed to wriggle an arm from his tight grasp, pulling his chin down so she could find his lips with hers. Forget the worries she'd had before. He was here now, just like he said he'd be. She kissed him, and after a moment of surprise he kissed her back. He was trying to be careful, she could tell, the spindly fingers of his real hand moving up to cradle the back of her head, supporting her neck as he rolled half upright so he could lean down over her and kiss her again. Forget Overwatch, and Winston, and the disapproval of anyone else, including her. They were alive.

She let her tongue slip into his lips, earning a happy little groan in reply as his mouth opened and his tongue advanced to find hers again. He kissed her deeply, sharing his heat with her, and held her like he never wanted to let go. But he had forgotten himself again, and when he shifted atop her, she winced and her lips pulled away to make a little pained noise, bringing him back. He sat up quickly, and it pulled away his weight but also his warmth, and she whispered another apology as always.

He shook his head down at her, "Sorry, love, we're still not tip-top. Maybe we gotta do this when we're not both battered all to pieces? You stay here, s'morning anyway and Roadie is going to want to get moving, tip-top or not. I'll get brekkie going."

She nodded and let him wriggle the rest of the way out of the bedroll, sad to see him leave as she snuggled down and tried to enjoy the body heat still trapped inside. "Is he all right too? Roadhog?"

"You kidding me? Nothing can stop the whole hog, especially not a few ice cubes! He's right as rain, you don't gotta worry about a thing except how shit this food's going to be!" He gave her a grin, and was heartened to see her smile back at him.

He left Mei and returned to his partner on the other side of the van, where Roadhog was tying down more supplies in the already-full sidecar. Junkrat leaned down to start rifling through what remained of the meal packs and filled his flask with water. "She's back. Kept her real warm and good, just like I said! Never shoulda doubted me, Roadie. Still, not feeling too great, think it fucked her up worse than us, and it's not like we felt too good about it either."

Roadhog thought for a moment, then looked out at the horizon and the rapidly-moving clouds in the morning sky. "Mm. Hope she can walk. Safehouse is still a distance away."

Junkrat shrugged one gaunt shoulder. "Welp, not like anyone is going to come out here for the rescue. Comms are all out and last thing we need is someone picking up a distress signal around here and coming to finish the job. We'll get some food into her, get her up and moving again, and right she'll be. Ha! Strawberry oatmeal! I _knew_ I saw one still around, this'll cheer her right up!"

Roadhog watched his younger cohort scamper off to deliver the good news, and continued to try and stack more supplies onto the already-heavy bike. It wasn't the first time the junkers had been in dire straits, but it was the first time they'd be trying to haul a weakened climatologist with them. They needed the water, as much as they could get, and food to keep them strong for the journey. Three bedrolls took up a lot more space than two, and Mei's science-boxes weighed a lot more than he'd guessed. The bike was heavy to begin with, so much so that only Roadhog himself could push it, and the sand-clogged dirt roads would make it that much harder.

They'd need to get moving soon, sickness or no. They would be sitting ducks in the most dangerous zone in the entirety of Australia, and they needed to travel during this window where they could. They had already played their only trump card, and even then they'd paid dearly for it.

They'd barely survived the trial by ice. Now it was time for a trial by fire.


	13. Chapter 13

Mei had forced herself to eat something, though it hurt to swallow and it felt as though her belly was full of broken glass. There was no time for a proper recovery, not out here. She barely had time to pick through the wreckage of the van, only taking her science equipment, the deactivated Snowball, and her now useless gun. She left the empty cryo-fuel tank behind, in a sad pile with Roadhog's bike engine, and Junkrat's RIP-Tire.

Junkrat was having a tough time parting with the last one and making quite the fuss, with his arms wrapped around the dirty spiked rubber as he kissed the strange jerry-rigged chainsaw mechanism at its center. "I know! I know it ain't fair! You can't come with us, we just can't handle you right now. You're too big, you're too heavy, you're too beautiful. No! Don't make this harder than it already is!" He covered his face with one arm dramatically, making himself look away. "There'll never be another one just like you."

Mei and Roadhog sat watching him, the little climatologist massaging her throat. "…Is it strange that I'm feeling a little jealous of an inanimate object right now?"

"Mm."

With his tearful goodbyes finally over, Junkrat returned to the others, sniffling a little. "I miss her already."

Mei shook her head, returning to looking at the taped-together paper map that was all they had now for navigation. The storm had fried everything else. She tapped on the paper. "I think we're about here, and you said the safehouse is northwest? We'll be passing by the drop point for the eco-station. It's only a few kilometers off the road."

Roadhog grunted. "A few kilometers is still a few hours. A few kilometers is still a few litres of water. Not going to push the bike that far out of the way."

Whereas before she would have been irritated, she had become a little more used to his brutal practicality. And he was right. Even together, she and Junkrat would have to struggle to push their heavy equipment any distance at all, and they couldn't risk tiring out the only person with the muscle to get them through. So she just nodded. "How about we travel to here, make sure the weather's holding steady, and then split for a few hours. You can stay on the road and take a break. Jamison, you'll help me take the eco-station the rest of the way to the drop?"

Junkrat sprang to attention, lifting his mechanical arm in a salute. "I am ready to do all kinds of service to you."

" _Ai ya_ …Okay, that answers that question. We'll deliver the payload and rendezvous later that afternoon."

Roadhog pondered this for a few moments before nodding. "All right. Try to make it quick. Even if it's not a red storm, still lots of sandstorms and bad weather in the red zones. Couple days to go before we can reach the safehouse. If it's still there."

She folded the map, shrugging a little helplessly. "I might not have my equipment, but I'll be keeping an eye on the weather patterns as best I can. We just…keep going forward." She shouldered the heavy pack on her back and stood straight, and with no more fanfare, she and the junkers started off further into the red desert.

* * *

She knew that she would have a tougher time of it. The junkers were used to this land, after all, and had made long treks like this as a part of their everyday life. But it had been quite some time since she'd walked a very long distance, she had already been damaged by her own last-ditch efforts to freeze them all during the storm, and her body was not handling the dramatic changes between heat and chill very well. Where before she had welcomed the sun and its vivid yellow rays that morning to help drive back the ice inside her, it had very quickly warmed back up to unbearably hot temperatures…and even then, as she was baking on the outside, her core still felt so, so cold.

She kept trudging forward, with Junkrat taking the lead and Roadhog pushing their supplies steadily behind her. She could ignore the sweat already pouring down her face, but paired with the painful chill that had seemed to coat her heart and lungs, she was already dreading the rest of their journey. A painful rasping wheeze was already accompanying every breath, and they had only been walking a few hours.

She found herself glad for the company of Junkrat especially, more so his penchant for incessant chatter. He had launched into a long story about the first time he'd ever tried building a RIP-Tire, and the many failures and changes he'd made along the way. It was a welcome distraction, as his mouth tried to keep up with the million different thoughts in his head. A simple story dissolved into tangents about what he'd bought at the store that day, he thought it might have involved cookies because he loved cookies, even the stale kind they sometimes got in stock in Junkertown, and that time he'd bitten off the ear of another man for trying to steal his cookies, and did they even make those kinds of cookies anymore?, and maybe Mei could help teach him to make cookies when they got back to base, or maybe Ana, she was a grand old gal who could probably bake a billion different kinds of cookies, and he'd never met his real grandma but wished he'd had, and anyway what was he saying about the RIP-Tire again? So he'd gone to the store that day…

The drone of one-sided conversation almost lulled her into a stupor, kept her placing one foot in front of the other, hearing him but not really listening to him. Roadhog must have been putting up with this for years. Little wonder the elder junker sometimes left them so abruptly. Apart from a gag or chloroform, it was the only way to get any peace.

The sun continued to beat down and they kept walking and Junkrat kept talking. He was on another tangent again, this time about how oil was really dinosaurs so in a way he actually had dinosaurs all over his hands, when Roadhog stopped suddenly, the bike and its packed sidecar squeaking to a halt as he turned his masked face to the west. His two companions stopped to look back at him in question before he upnodded to the horizon and the unassuming cluster of red rocks far off. "I'm stopping here. Weather seems clear enough. Go, and then get back." With that, he flopped down into the sand with his back propped up against the broken motorcycle, covering his shoulders and head with a blanket, and was soon snoring aloud.

She'd been in such a trance, fixated on walking and Junkrat's stories and trying to ignore her discomfort, that she hadn't even noticed they were at the point. She wiped perspiration from her sticky forehead, wiping it off on her pants as she and Junkrat began untying the eco-station equipment from the pile of supplies. The large silver boxes were rather heavy, even though she was carrying the lightest of them, and she abandoned her backpack with the sleeping junker, cradling her precious science tech in both arms instead.

The two set off together, trudging their way through the burning red sand. Her wheezing was audible, and Junkrat was shooting her looks of concern. "You doing okay, old gal?"

She paused to catch her breath, holding her chest. "I'm not…an old…gal…" She winced, aware of how old and out of breath she sounded.

Junkrat waved both hands quickly. "Oh, uh! Not like old gal, like…ya know, _old gal_. Uh. Really though, you doing all right? We can stop for a tick."

She shook her head and made a point of speeding up, carrying her equipment with her as she waded through the sand and passed him…though it only took a few long strides of his lanky limbs to carry him back up to her. Damnit. "I'm fine. Really. We're so close to the objective! Just a bit longer."

Just a bit longer was nearly another hour, and she was drenched in sweat by the time they finally reached the boulders. She paused to guzzle water from her canteen, splashing a bit over her face and neck as Junkrat helped her navigate upward. He was so tall he could just simply lift her up onto most of them, then scramble up behind. His missing leg barely seemed to slow him down. They traversed the rocks together, and then dropped down into the middle of them, back into the sand where the boulders formed a lopsided circle around them, almost like a natural protective barrier.

With a sigh of relief, she sat down as Junkrat passed his share of the equipment to her, sitting down to watch her. She got right to work, stacking them in order and starting to attach cables and cords, checking circuits and repeatedly testing the angles of the solar panel displays. The radioactivity-resistant shields buzzed and drew back as they sensed no present danger, and Mei finally connected the power supply to the main core, holding her breath.

A small light on the display panel flicked on and changed from red to green.

Mei turned with a huge smile to Junkrat, but found he was just giving her a confused look. "When does it do the thing?" He asked, scratching his fluffy head.

She pointed to the little green light. "It is working! It's activated, see! Right there!"

He pasted his usual smile back on his lips, but it didn't quite wipe the confusion from his face. Still, he tried to act excited for the little green light. "Oh! Oh, yeah! Yeah, yaaaay! Uh, what's it do now? Can we call the blokes back home with it?"

Her smile faded a bit. "Well…it's just a surveillance device. I don't have anything to plug into it anymore. If I had my phone working I might be able to hook them up and maybe do something with the input but…" she trailed off. "But it's reading the weather, just like it's supposed to! If we had a radio, we could tune in to the frequency…" Again she trailed off. She didn't have her phone or a radio. She didn't have anything to input a distress signal. Her other equipment was gone. Snowball was dead to rights. She was celebrating a tiny light turning green and this rightfully confused the junker trying to be happy for her.

"Oh. Okay." He nodded. "Well, we did it. I guess that's that!"

It soured her a little. Her victory, the very reason she'd come out all this way and braved so many dangers, had lasted for all of about four seconds. She tried to shake off such a foul thought. The light was green and that meant it was active and she was helping save millions of lives, right, a little feeling of victory was nothing in comparison. She wasn't doing this for some victory high. But she couldn't shake the feeling, it was somewhere down in the cold still in her gut, frozen and poisonous.

 _What a let down._

Even Junkrat was unwittingly playing into it. He saw nothing exciting in a light turning on, and was now watching the clouds and trying to pick out their shapes instead. "Heh, that one looks like a roadkilled roo."

 _What a fucking let down._

She fell into another violent coughing fit, letting it distract her from the guilt she felt about her own disappointment. It had just been a hard day, that was all. She wasn't well, and it was affecting her mind and her mood. She had done her job, and she should be proud of herself, after all. They'd achieved what they'd set out to do. Everything was fine…

She pulled herself up, dusting the sand from her rear, and gave the eco-station one last check over. And with that done, she turned and started to leave, not looking back. Junkrat blinked and hopped up to scramble after her. "Oi, wait for me! You sure you're all right, darl?"

"As far as I can tell, everything is working and it should be broadcasting. I don't have anything to check it with, though. I don't have anything. We should get back to Roadhog. Come on."

"Stop. Stoooop, stop stop stop. C'mere." He flung out one long arm, looping it around her waist and pulling her against him, stopping her in her tracks. "You ain't all right. I know that look. Hey. You did real good, love. I don't know what all that stuff does, but I know you did a good thing with it. Just…don't know what to say about it."

She let her head slump against his chest, not caring if she was sweaty. They were both sweaty. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm just tired. I know, I'm proud of us. It's just been a long day. And I'm still not, what do you say, tip-top."

"Well, we'll take five and then get going. We got your weather thingy all set up, and now we'll just head on to this safehouse that Roadie's got, and then you can have a real nice long rest for as long as you need. I'll give ya a massage! I'm real good at them, I got a hand what never gets tired!" He grinned and held up his metal arm, the joints clicking as he wiggled his fingers.

She smiled a little at him, leaned up to the tips of her toes in order to kiss his cheek. "That sounds nice. I think I've had just about enough of this Australian Outback Adventure-Tour, thank you."

* * *

They returned to Roadhog late that afternoon, walking the entire distance back only for Roadhog to stop snoring, get up, and then start walking again. Their only respite was when the sun finally went down, and Mei kept waiting for the call to make camp. But it kept getting later and later, until the moon had replaced the sun high up in the sky, and only then did Hog make the call to bed down. There were no cheerful campfires, no chats about how awful the food was, and even Junkrat seemed a bit more subdued than usual, more focused on scraping the bottom of his MRE packets than talking, occasionally guzzling down water and complaining loudly when Roadhog cut him off. They were just as tired, and there was only a few minutes for mealtime before bedrolls were laid out.

Mei hadn't been able to find her toothbrush in the ruins of the van. She could only rinse her mouth out with water and spit to try to dispel the foul chemical tastes that coated the inside of her mouth. It didn't work, and it did nothing to improve her already low spirits. At least she had little time to wallow in them. She climbed inside her sleeping bag, rolled over so that Jamison could latch onto her, and didn't even bother looking up at the stars before succumbing to exhaustion.

They only had a few hours to rest, and the sun wasn't even up before Roadhog was shaking them both awake again. Both Mei and Rat groaned, but a nudge from Hog's plated boot into Junkrat's lower back got them moving again, breaking camp and going back to walking.

The sun came up and they kept walking. They took a break, then they kept walking. Hog allowed them a brief respite to eat another meal after noon had passed, and after that they kept walking. Mei was carefully parceling out her water, making sure to keep dehydration at bay, but they only had so much to ration for three people. Their second day passed without event, and when they camped, even Junkrat had little to say and just wanted to sleep.

The third day dawned bright and clear, but Mei soon announced through her ragged coughing that the winds were changing and the light on the horizon had turned red. They were forced to don those horrible gas masks again. It was a small sandstorm, hardly anything as severe as a storm or a breeze, but it made their travel that much more difficult. The mask was suffocating and sweaty, and the grains of sand scoured at their flesh, wrapping blankets and ponchos around themselves as the trio moved steadily forward against the wind. By the time it had finally passed, her skin was raw and sore and she was filthy all over, and every part of her burned. That evening, they sat on a ridge and watched as another storm was born in the ashes of the distant omnium, growing into a red and black monolith and whirling into the sky as it raged mindlessly into the southern wastes.

Her muscles ached and her head was pounding with fever as her body turned in on itself for water. She had stopped urinating the first day and was barely able to sweat as the third day drew to a close, each hour in the sunlight bringing her dangerously close to heatstroke. How she had continued on for so long after that, even she was not sure. Her memory became blurred, all her effort going to putting one foot in front of the next. They had stopped talking long ago. Nobody had anything left to say.

Was it the fourth day? Or maybe the fifth? Had she slept recently? She couldn't really remember.

"Mei?"

The familiar voice seemed to drip in one ear and out the other as she struggled just to lift her head, steadily trudging forward. Junkrat was there again, though he looked…odd. His pale hair was gleaming so brightly in the sun it was almost blinding, his mouth wasn't moving to match his voice, and his eyes were two enormous blue pits in his face, filled with water…Water, how long had it been since she'd had water, again? He had such pretty blue eyes. They'd been yellow before, but these were nice too…He could be so nice, sometimes. He was on fire. Everything was on fire. Haha, she was so thirsty, and so tired…

"Mei!"

Her footsteps stuttered as her eyes rolled back and down she went, face-first into the sand as her glasses tumbled down the hillside.

Roadhog stopped as Junkrat leapt into action, pulling her up out of the side of the dune and brushing the dirt from her heat-reddened cheeks. He'd been watching her carefully just for such a thing to occur, pulling off her pack and shoving it atop the sidecar as he glanced at Hog, who was already offering his canteen out. There was little they could really do for her, save douse her burning head with water and cover her with a blanket from the sun. Even Hog's mask wouldn't help with heatstroke. Junkrat shifted his own backpack to hang awkwardly around to his chest, taking a rag and tearing it into strips as he bound Mei's wrists together before looping them around his neck and pulling her onto his back. Adjusting her several times until her piggy-back weight was more comfortable, there was nothing else for them to do but keep walking.

* * *

She awoke in a bed. A real bed. For a moment she thought she was back in her room, with her glow in the dark stars and snowflake blankets, but that was certainly not the case as she came to and saw it was a shoddy iron bedframe and rough canvas blankets and she was still very far from home. She found her glasses had been set on a table next to her, shoving them onto her nose as the room came into focus. The room was tiny and covered in yellowed and peeling paisley wallpaper, with a dust-covered stuffed antelope head hanging crookedly on one wall, its marble black eyes staring blankly at her. She tried to suppress a shudder, wondering how long it had been watching her sleep. Apparently it hadn't been the only one. The covers were rumpled next to her, the other pillow dented as though a head had been there recently, and there were a few familiar smears of soot.

She went to roll upright and a damp rag went tumbling into her lap where it had been resting on her forehead. Bringing a hand up to her brow, she could no longer feel the burning with the fevers brought on by a sudden cryo-freeze coupled with heatstroke. She noticed a glass of water on the table nearby and fell upon it eagerly, downing it in three gulps before shakily climbing off the bed with a creak of rusted springs.

They must have made it to the fabled safehouse, that much was obvious. She pushed open the door to the little bedroom and the rest of it looked much the same. Everything was dated and yellow and faded from the sun, peeling and crumbling in places, with cheap furniture and a slightly moldy smell. But she had never been so glad to be in such a place in all her life. Anything was better than being out in the desert, and this dingy little shack had saved her life.

Speaking of saving her life…

She heard rustling noises from further in, and found Junkrat sprawled out on his stomach on the dusty living room floor, an old TV on mute as it played a crowd of people learning to do aerobics. He was more intent on the pile of frags and grenades on a blanket in front of him, painstakingly painting smiley faces on each and every one.

The last thing she wanted to do was startle him, and cleared her throat carefully and made her steps audible before speaking aloud. "Jamie?"

He turned, and his signature grin spread across his face, eyes lighting up happily as he sprang upright. "Mei, love! You're finally up! Again! Hopefully for real this time, you gotta fuckin' stop scaring me like this. Knock it off. How you feel?" His long arms swooped around her, shaking her gently back and forth in elation.

She was feeling better now, well enough to really return his affections as she covered his cheek in little pecking kisses before drawing back to look up at him. "How…did we get here? I remember walking and then suddenly I'm here."

"Oh, you were out of your fucking mind by the end there. You stroked out and fell down, so I just pretended you were a RIP-Tire and carried you on our way. Was still near a day's trek, you would'na made it. Hell, even after we made it here and managed to cool you down again, you've been out for like three days straight. Roadie and I were down and out as well for most of it too. That trip really takes it out of ya!"

She looked surprised. "You carried me through the desert for a whole day? That's…that's actually really impressive. I think it's gallant, even."

His cheeks reddened slightly at that, grin turning goofy as he looked away, scratching the back of his head. "Oh! Ah! Pfft. Pshaw. It was nothing. I mean, what was I going to do, leave you there?"

"You saved my life."

"Well, you saved mine. And saved Hog's bacon, too! Oh, I gotta remember that one for later…"

She smiled up at him. "Call it even?" Her arms slipped around his slender waist, pursing her lips up at him.

"Yeah, guess we're square," he purred, meeting her lips to grant her a kiss, still rocking her slightly back and forth as the little people on the TV screen started their fifth round of jumping jacks.

"Hmmm." There was a rumbling growl from the doorway, where Roadhog was suddenly standing. Despite being one of the largest men that Mei had ever seen, he certainly had the ability to move stealthily at odd moments. Almost eerily so.

Her cheeks reddened and she drew away from her kiss, looking down at the floor sheepishly. "Oh! Sorry."

"Aw, Roadie, not yet," Junkrat complained. "Fuck's sake, don't we deserve a good time? She just got up!"

"Tell her," Hog replied sternly.

Mei looked between them curiously. "Tell me what?"

He groaned reluctantly before leading her to the rather hideous floral-print retro sofa against the far wall, sitting her down before pacing a few times in front of her. "Okay! We got good news and we got bad news. Which do you want first?"

"I guess the bad news?"

"Okay…Uh, how about instead we do the good news first though! Roadie, grab the thing!" He reached out, and Roadhog immediately plunked an old black radio into his hand. With a knowing grin, he flicked the knob and held it out to Mei as it crackled to life.

There was a few moments of static, before a female voice could be heard announcing, " _-ing as the winds outside of Warburton have increased to level 2, heading east southeast. Residents should head north to avoid incoming sandstorms. Red Storm number Fourteen has decreased wind speeds to level 4 and is expected to maintain course in the southeast red zone, heading south southwest at longitude-_ " It rambled on in its soothing mechanical way as Mei took the radio in wonder, listening as it continued to list the storm numbers and their current paths and predictions before starting over with updated realtime information.

"It worked," she whispered. For all the disappointment she had felt over that silly little green light turning on, it was a different matter to really hear it in action. A genuine smile widened across her face, eyes creasing as her cheeks dimpled, looking up to the junkers with true excitement. "It worked! We did it!"

"Yeah! Yeah, we did! I mean, wish we had something to celebrate or take you out to dinner or something, this shitshack ain't much for ways of celebrating." He was rubbing the back of his head again and his excitement seemed strangely muted.

She hugged the radio to her chest. Whatever the bad news was, she felt sure it couldn't bring her down from her current emotional high. "And what's the other news?"

Junkrat bit his lip and looked to Roadhog again, but he merely pointed one large black-nailed finger at the television. With a sigh, Rat found the remote and switched channels to some news show. She listened, but the news didn't seem that special. Something about an auto accident that had caused a pile-up and a few fatalities in a town she'd never heard of. Tragic, to be sure, but she didn't understand why they were so concerned.

She gave them a confused look. "A…traffic accident?"

Junkrat quietly approached the screen, metal fingers reaching out as he tapped the corner of the newscaster's screen. It listed the local weather with a happy smiling sun, the temperature, and today's date and time…

The date and time. Her posture froze and for a long time she just stared. Junkrat looked away as the radio dropped to the floor. She approached the television as though something might change just by stepping closer, kneeling down in front of it and staring even more before looking to Roadhog. Her voice was quiet. "This isn't a trick."

"Mm. No."

"But that…today's…"

"Mmhm."

She massaged her temples for a moment, trying to process it, trying to do some quick math in her head. Dates and numbers and time spent trapped in the ice all over again, and the date that they had started out on this misbegotten goodwill mission. She knew they had gone over a bit, but it had been an emergency, both the cryo-freeze and the time spent in the desert. Winston surely would have understood that. But this…

She stared in disbelief at the TV again.

"We've been gone for over four months…"


	14. Chapter 14

The junkers watched, heads moving back and forth steadily as they followed her pacing. She'd been walking in circles for at least a few minutes now, from one side of the tiny room to the other whilst muttering in her native language and her gaze somewhere far off. Neither of them opted to say anything further on the matter, and even Junkrat seemed to know to zip it lest he further the mental tailspin. Neither he nor Roadhog had cared much beyond a 'Crikey, look at that' when they had realized what happened, but neither of them had the history or loyalty to the Overwatch cause that Mei had…nor the anxiety about schedules and stolen lifespans. They figured it was best not to interrupt.

She finally turned to them after a while, still looking a bit shocked and lost. "We…we need to call someone. We need to tell Winston- tell everyone that we're okay. We're not gone. We're still alive."

"Workin' on it, lovey. Place is just a bush ranger's shit-heap, equipment here's bodgy but I reckon I can get a signal out. But hey, we're safe and we got provisions now. It's near on noon so why don't you go uh…I dunno, do what ladies do, freshen up? They got a tub and everything. And then Roadie's gonna make us piggie pancakes. S'like regular pancakes, but they got like little ears and a face on 'em, and then you put syrup around 'em to make 'em look dirty-"

"But we're still alive…" Mei wasn't really listening, starting to wander back and forth again.

"Yeah. Yeah, we're still alive, darl. You want to maybe have a sit-down or anything? Can go back to bed if you need? Uh, we had to ditch my teas but I can still make you a…something?" Junkrat gave his partner a bit of a baffled look, scratching his head in that telltale uncomfortable way. Roadhog looked between them, shrugged, and lumbered back into the kitchen. Junkrat scowled, sending a middle finger his way. "Thanks for the fuckin' help, Streetpig! Yeah, just dump that shit all over her brains and leave! Yeah, great. Dipstick."

Mei finally turned his way, her expression still heartbroken. "I'm going to just…I guess I need to go think? Sorry. I'm sorry."

"You put her back in apology mode, Roadie you fucker!" Junkrat groaned, then went to warily approach her, offering out a hand. "Here, lookit. Gonna put you in the bathroom so you can get sorted, roight? It'll make ya feel better. Hey, we're all alive. You just sit back for a bit while I get the comms working, everything's still good. You're safe, I'm safe, Hog's stupid arse is still safe, it's good."

She let him take her by the hand and usher her towards the bathroom, nodding in a distracted way along with his words. "Sorry…No, you're right. I guess it's just all a bit startling. I know I didn't have time to do any calculations during the storm but…four months wasn't something I expected. At all. Four months. Four months went by. Gone. They're gone. And they think we're gone. Oh my gosh, I told them two weeks and we just vanish without a trace for so long? What if they think we're dead? What if they tried to send help? What if-"

She realized that she was entirely alone, standing and babbling to herself where Junkrat had left in her in the bathroom, and roughly patted at her cheeks to try and snap herself back into reality. She'd vaguely heard something about them all being safe for now. And they were. She had time to herself to try and work her way through it, and wandering around in a tizzy wouldn't help. She made herself take several deep breaths, exhaling and counting to ten, before examining her surroundings. The bathroom was a tiny side room with that same awful faded wallpaper, with a bone-dry toilet and cracked sink and…she guessed technically it was a tub. When Junkrat had mentioned a tub, she had expected white porcelain or laminate, with scalding hot water and enough bubbles to smother her, perhaps a few rubber duckies for companionship… What she had was more of a wash bucket made of dull gray tin with handles on both sides, and a large plastic container of water sitting nearby.

Another item caught her eye. A tube of toothpaste was sitting on the sink and she fell upon it eagerly, squeezing a dab out onto her fingertip. It had literally been months without a toothbrush, and she was eager for clean teeth. Not that she had a toothbrush here either- and she wouldn't have used a suspicious outback safehouse's toothbrushes even if there had been one- but a clean mouth was a godsend at this point. She began rubbing the toothpaste all over her teeth and gums, sighing happily. A tingling sensation filled her mouth, followed by a slight stinging. Goodness, Australian toothpastes must have been made stronger than what she was used to. It almost hurt. But at least her mouth would finally feel fresh and clean, and minty and…was that a hint of iron?

Her brows furrowed and she held the sides of her jaw, grasping for a nearby water jug as she poured some into her mouth, swishing furiously before spitting. The water splattered into the basin of the sink, swirled with toothpaste foam and tinged with red. She stared at it for a moment before spitting again; less toothpaste, even more red. Blood. Her gums were bleeding. That was certainly concerning…But then again, she had just put strange toothpaste in a mouth that hadn't seen proper hygiene in who knows how long. Making a face, she swished with more water and spat until it ran clean.

Now for the rest of her.

She struggled to lift one of the heavy water canisters, spilling a bit onto the floor as she managed to haul it to the edge of the tub, watching as it made loud _glug-glug-glug_ noises and filled the little washtub. It may not have had floral-scented bubbles or rubber duckies, but it looked heavenly all the same. She climbed in and tried to relax, though it was just barely large enough to fit her kneeling down, and worked on scrubbing the dirt and dust from her poor battered body. The water soon ran brownish-gray, revealing skin covered in bruises and sunburns. Ugh. There was no shampoo in sight, but she tried to rinse her hair out as best she could, dunking it under the water and raking her hands through it. It was going to feel so good, finally free of all that grime…

She dumped more water over her head before lifting upright, sputtering and wiping at her face before staring down at the dirty water, doing a double take. Dirty didn't even begin to describe it. It was filthy, and there were stray hairs floating all over the surface. In fact, there were a lot of stray hairs. A lot- _a LOT_ \- of stray hairs. Too many.

She hauled her dripping body out of the tub, slipping on the linoleum as she made a dash for the mirror. Standing in front of it and staring blankly at her sopping wet reflection, she lifted a hand and went to comb her fingers through her hair. They shed away at her touch, falling away in entire clumps, and her hand began shaking as it drew back with an entire chunk of dark locks still attached, leaving a bald patch behind on her afflicted scalp as it fell away onto the floor. She couldn't help herself, grabbing another lock of hair and pulling, watching as it came away too, and again, until the floor was littered with brown strands. She looked down at her shaking hands, then back at her own shellshocked and silent reflection, before she opened her mouth and screamed.

* * *

It was high-pitched and perhaps a little overly feminine, almost comical. But it certainly caught attention. There was a ruckus of noise outside as a peg leg clattered down the hallway, before a loud pounding shook the door.

"Oi, Mei! Mei, what's wrong!"

She felt over her bald spots, mouth moving but no sound coming out, even as the pounding outside continued until the door almost came loose in its bolts. There was the sound of feet moving away, before a loud announcement of, "I'm kickin' the door down!"

She found her voice again. "Don't! Don't k-"

The feet were already moving, running straight at the door with a loud and very heroic Reinhardt-inspired "HRRRAAAH!" before there was the sound of splintering wood. Instead of the door breaking open as expected, there was instead a piercing crack, as a metal peg went straight through the cheap plywood, the force of it shoving through all the way past the knee joint, followed by the crash of a body outside, falling to the floor. There was a moan, before Junkrat's muffled voice sounded from the crack at the bottom of the door. "Ow! I forgot which foot I kicked with! I'm stuck! Mei, can you give my peg a push! Can you- Okay, Roadie's here now! Roadie, bust it!"

"No! I said not to-"

There was the sound of much heavier footsteps, drowning out her protests, before the enormous junker thrust out one huge fist and gave the doorknob a love tap. The doorknob and locking mechanism shattered instantly as the door was pushed open, dragging the unlucky Junkrat on the floor on his back as he slid along with it, still caught by the knee joint. "We're here, love! What's the trouble!"

For a moment they just stared at one another, Junkrat's neck craning from his position on the ground and Roadhog bending over slightly to be able to see into the doorframe. Mei stood in front of the mirror, surrounded by scattered clumps of hair and as naked as the day she was born, shining wet as she vainly tried to cover herself with both arms. She locked eyes with Junkrat, whose pupils dilated as his cheeks turned red, his jaw dropping open senselessly as if he had beheld the gates of paradise themselves.

"AAAAAAHHHHH!" Mei promptly began screaming again, hunching over and backing away as she looked for anything nearby to hide behind. "Get out! Get _out_ of here!"

Roadhog bellowed and physically flailed, lifting a hand to cover the eyes of his mask as he groped blindly for the doorknob, finding it and pulling the door shut as hard as he could.

Unfortunately this did not work as well as expected, and merely set Junkrat to shrieking as his leg was still firmly caught in the plywood and dragged him along, smashing his torso between the door and the frame several times as he kicked and struggled, finally managing to wrench his peg back the other way and diving to freedom as Hog slammed the door closed behind him. He lay there holding his side, groaning as fresh bruises spread over his ribs.

"Think that coulda gone better. Hooley dooley, though, did you see, uh…She was all…" He flopped over onto his back, staring at the popcorn ceilings. "Like an angel, Roadie, like in the picture books. But ya know, more shiny and wet and real mad at us."

"Hair fell out."

"Huh?"

"Her hair was falling out. It was on the floor."

"Ooooh…Yeah, she probably ain't used to that part. What do we do? How do you treat a lady's first radiation sick? Is there some sort of gentleman thing I gotta do? Do I like, leave 'er alone or try to comfort her or what? Should I go back in there? I probably should-"

Roadhog caught his hand as it moved towards the knob, grasping Rat's entire bony arm and proceeding to drag him away down the hall. "No."

* * *

Mei had found a small and rather unpleasantly crunchy old towel in a cabinet, and had wrapped it around her as she sat on the lid of the toilet. She was shaking all over, staring at a wet clump of hair in her fist as she felt over the bald spots around her scalp and tasted more blood in her mouth, though she couldn't tell if it was her gums or from biting her tongue during the chaos. She felt a little odd. Not just the hunger in her gut or the certain radiation poisoning she had, or even the remnants of the ice from her cryo-stasis. This was darker and more primal and made her uncomfortable.

She was mad.

No, not just mad. Furious. No, more than furious. Enraged. Irate. Riled. _Fènnù. Shēngqi_. No, not even those. There was no word she knew in English, Mandarin, or any other language for the type of anger she felt. Usually her anger was accompanied by tears and frustration. This was something deeper and more sinister. She didn't want to cry. She couldn't even cry, there were no tears in her. This wasn't just anger. It was hatred.

She hated everything.

She wasn't the sort to hate. In fact, it was almost alien to her. If there was something wrong, she normally bustled about to try and fix it instead, or encouraged others to see the brighter side of things no matter how dreary the prospects. Rarely, if ever, had she ever felt this deep and hopeless void of anything else but hatred.

She hated that her hair was falling out and her mouth tasted like blood and she was bruised and burned all over. She hated Australia. She hated that she had ever wanted to come here. She hated the stupid, brutish people in this stupid, brutish country. She hated herself for thinking they were ever worth helping. She hated Winston for letting her come here even though she'd forced him to. She hated Junkrat. She hated Roadhog. She hated this entire horrible roadtrip. She hated Bobbero and his stupid ugly teeth, and the way he'd tried to kill Jamison and gave them that shitty van. She hated Tilda and her bikers for making her kill them. She hated that she had lost four more months of her life, four months of time that she would never get back, added on to the life that had already been taken from her. She hated that she even cared about these horrible storms, she should have just let them rage! Rage and let them wipe out this whole godforsaken continent!

She stood, hands balled into trembling fists. Most of all she hated that she was feeling hate. That she'd been driven to this and punished for wanting to do something good with her remaining life, and instead more had been stolen from her.

Not knowing what else to do, she whirled around and lashed out, slapping a palm against the mirror above the sink. She glanced up and saw her reflection, red-eyed and bruised and so tired looking, with raggedy patches of her bare scalp all over. She slapped her reflection, slamming her hand against the rattling mirror several times until her fist suddenly balled up and she punched it as hard as she could. Even in her greatest rage she was weak, and instead of shattering into a billion satisfying pieces, it merely dented inward and suffered a few small cracks.

Of course. The one thing in Australia that she wanted to break, and she couldn't even accomplish that. She felt like she should want to cry, but just wasn't able. She wanted to make it all go away, but she couldn't. She couldn't do anything. So she sat down on the floor, amongst the scattered locks of her hair, and tried to ignore her own dark thoughts.

* * *

Mei didn't emerge from the bathroom for hours. Junkrat had tried once or twice to knock gently at the door and ask if things were all right, but received no answer. Roadhog told him to just wait it out and went about his business. But Junkrat was not very good at waiting. Instead he had tried to think of various ways he could cheer her up.

Hog had immediately vetoed the idea of grenade juggling, which irked Junkrat because he had become extremely good at juggling and practiced often when bored, and the grenades were the most exciting things to juggle and would really wow her, but Hog still said no. He wished he had been able to bring his teas with him. Then he could have brewed an entire cauldron of strawberry tea with lots of tapioca pearls, just for her…but she wouldn't keep it all for herself. No, she'd want to share it with him, and they could drink it together under the stars she liked so much and they could share tea-flavored kisses. But he wasn't that fond of strawberry and he didn't have his teas anyway, so that wouldn't work. Barbecuing her favorite meal was right out. She didn't like meat and the provisions at the safehouse were both out of date and not very glamorous. The only thing he had was explosives, which she didn't like at all, and piles upon piles of broken equipment. So he began rummaging through the broken pieces of scrap and circuitry and piles of tools, trying to find something, anything, that might make her smile again. And he knew it had to be something good. He knew what to do when she was crying, he could comfort her pretty well if she was just crying. The fact that she was alone and silent…that was making him very worried indeed.

Night had fallen by the time she finally vacated the little bathroom, shaking her head to Roadhog's offers of something to eat and ignoring the pleading growls of her empty stomach. Instead she returned to the creaky iron bed, climbed in, and didn't move for the rest of the night.

Junkrat kept working.

* * *

She finally roused herself a little before noon, when the snarling of her gut reminded her that its hunger pangs could be ignored no longer. She moved with a dull slowness, tired from oversleeping and exhausted from her own anger, but when she opened the door, she found Junkrat waiting for her, one fist raised as if to knock.

Blinking down at her, he tried a smile. "G'day, Mei! You really slept in! But there's still time for piggie pancakes. And…" he sighed. "We need to talk."

She shook her head. "Jamison…Please don't. I'm just tired. I'm tired of bad news. Please don't say we need to talk."

"Well…your hair…" He began, and then cringed when she turned her head away as if he'd struck her. "Look. You know I think you're gorgeous no matter how much hair you got. But me saying that won't help you feel better because…I mean, look at me." He leaned down to gesture to his owned scorched and balding areas on his head. "But I gotta say it anyway. And I know you feel like crap warmed over right now, because who wouldn't? Like, everything's that happened, it's been shit. And it kind of reminds me of this one story I got…"

She sighed, looking down at the floor. "Please, not one of your big stories again."

"So this one time, I was feeling real shit, just like you. I mean it was real bad. I was on the run from a gang because my 'friends' had sold me out for a zack. And when I say on the run, I mean literally, I was running for my life, which was real hard because I'd lost a leg and didn't have this beauty of a replacement yet, so I just had a crutch. So, I guess more hobbling for my life. I didn't have barely no supplies, no food, no water, no place to go, so I shacked up in some junkyard I found where less folks wanted to murder me. Ended up stealing food and water out of a junk dog's bowl. Couldn't make a fire, so ate it raw. Bam! Dysentary!"

"W-what?"

She was looking at him like he was crazy, but at least she'd stopped sighing and staring at the floor, so he continued. "So yeah! Spent that week shittin' meself and crying. I'll save you the gory details, love, it was bad. Plus, my stump was gettin' real bad infected. So I'm stuck in this junkyard with a swollen gut, an oozy leg, dry tongue, and no pals left who don't want to turn my carcass into coins. I got real mad. Got real mad at everything."

She just nodded. "Okay?"

"So I decided I'd beat a tire with a stick I found, and it turned out that a bunch of bees had made a nest in there, and hittin' them with a stick made them really mad. So they all came out at once, and it's like…yeah, I hated life a lot at that point, but then I had to stop hating it because I was getting stung by a bunch of bees."

"Jamison, I have no idea where this story is going."

"Ya get it though!? I didn't have time to hate life because I was still living, and I wanted to keep living so I was running from a bunch of bees! I mean, if I had really hated how things were that much, I would have just laid down right there and died from bees."

"Er, I really am not sure how this-"

"But I didn't! I got up and I hobbled my arse right out of there! I kept running from those bees! And you know what, I'm glad I did. Because after I got out of there, it got better. I met Hog and that was pretty good. I blew up some folks who wanted me dead, and that was also real good. I got to travel. I saw neat places and got to blow them up, really enjoyed that. Joined up with Overwatch which is okay I guess. But joining up with Overwatch means I got to meet you, darl! And let me just say…I'd gladly have a hundred days where I fucking hated existing and wished I wasn't alive and where I'm getting stung by a bunch of bees, if it meant I got to meet you."

She turned away, but was smiling a little despite herself as she tried to piece together the sad absurdity of his story. "Your ideas of a pep talk are extremely strange and kind of romantic in a way I don't understand at all."

He seemed heartened by her smile, nodding. "It's like…yeah, shit sucks. But there's some good shit too. It'll get better, I can promise you that. I know you're mad, real mad, about that ice eating up more of ya. But you lived through it all and you did so much that you can't even see yet, and…you know, maybe don't think about the ice eating you up. Because I was there, and Hog was too, and we were all together and it was more like we were all just taking a nap at the same time."

"That doesn't even make sense but…thanks?" She offered out a hand and he took it, giving her a little reassuring little squeeze. "I'm sorry you have to keep doing this for me. I feel like I've been nothing but a pain for you two."

"It's Oz, mate. Everything and everyone out here's a pain. Including us. Me and Hog are just gonna get you through it with all four limbs still attached. Who knows, maybe one day you'll look back on all this and laugh. That's what I do. Besides, it ain't all bad news. I got communications up! Aaaaaand someone else is real happy to see you! I think. I ain't figured it all out yet." He quickly lifted two fingers to his lips and whistled.

There was a semi-familiar warbling sound as the little powder-blue drone hovered shakily into the bedroom, an antennae and circuit boards pasted onto its back. It was still dented on one side and its emoticon eyes were flickering and shifting in 'I'm sick' swirly symbols as it struggled to stay steady.

"Snowball!" Mei brightened, holding out both arms. "You're back!"

The drone responded with a loud grinding noise that sounded more like an ancient modem starting up, rather than its usual cute beeps. It floated towards her, missed its mark, and went sailing over her head and into the far wall with a tone that sounded a bit like "BRRAAAPP." She rushed forward to scoop it up as it tumbled down to the floor, hugging it anyway as its eyes shifted to a ^ ^ in happy recognition and uttered another loud flatulent mechanical noise.

Junkrat coughed, looking to the side. "I mean, it's a work in progress, but it's sort of functioning again? So…it's not all bad, right?"

Her anger had subsided by now. It wasn't entirely gone, had merely shifted into something a little more manageable. She was still frustrated and sad and far from happy, but she was at least feeling more herself again. She could already feel the tears coming on as she grasped Snowball in one arm and hugged the lanky junker with the other, uttering one of her horrid little undignified wet burbles against his chest.

Junkrat's grin returned fully, wrapping his embrace around her once more. "There she is! Aw, that's it, you can cry and snot all over ol' Junkrat as much as you like."

"I-I'm not s-snotty, and I'm s-sorry…" she sniffled noisily, defeating the point.

"Sure. Come on, get it all out. We gotta make your SOS call later, but first…You have got to eat something, darl, your stomach sounds like it's trying to get out of you." He shepherded the red-faced Mei out of the bedroom and towards the kitchen.

Roadhog was standing in front of the stove, wearing an apron that was far too small for him, its straps hanging uselessly at his sides as he gave his cook pan a flip. Junkrat sat Mei down before slumping down into a chair himself, beating a fist on the table. "Oi, Roadie! Give us a full stack! We're starvin' to death over here!"

"Shut up," the elder junker responded calmly, transferring the pig-shaped pancakes from pan to plate and setting them in the middle of the table.

Junkrat barely gave Mei time to grab a few before he started dousing them in syrup and tearing into them with both hands. Mei and Roadhog chose to eat more primly, and with actual utensils. She was ravenously hungry, and even challenged Jamison for more, snagging a few more pancakes from the main stack before he could demolish them. Roadhog had partially lifted his swine-mask in order to eat once more, and without even looking her way, he paused and pulled something out of his pocket, holding it out to her.

It was a makeshift headscarf, with two laces stitched on and bearing a patch with the familiar little pig-face symbol with the beady eyes and x-symbol nose on one side. He held out the crumpled mound of fabric in one huge palm, gesturing slightly up towards her patchy scalp. "Here."

She took it, running her thumb over the little pig before wrapping it around her head, tying the straps around the back of her neck and adjusting it so it hid the worst of it. It didn't fix the problem, but not having to see it would certainly help more than he knew. Or maybe he did know.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Mm."

"BRRRT," Snowball said.


	15. Chapter 15

"Mei! Mei are you watchin'!"

"I'm watching, we're both watching."

Mei was sitting next to Roadhog out on the half-collapsed porch of the safehouse, what was left of her hair pulled back into a scraggly ponytail and covered with the pig motif headscarf. Her treasured snowflake pin lay inside with what little remained of her belongings, but she no longer had enough hair to warrant its use. The scarf at least covered up the damage, and even that small comfort was desperately needed. She felt better after eating, though it brought with it its own unique bout of nausea and made her wonder how the junkers could ever become used to such a thing.

If Junkrat even felt the effects of his red zone radiation poisoning on top of his usual radiation poisoning, he was remarkably adept at hiding it. He was up on the roof of the safehouse and trying to reach the roof of one of the little sheds nearby, hanging upside down with his knees locked around a power cable as he positioned some sort of contraption he had rigged up that morning. Mei could recognize a dessicated oil drum he'd scavenged from a burn barrel out in the backyard, lined with tin foil, set up over an extremely ancient satellite dish with more tin foil, a mass of wires and rods and what she could swear was the spatula that Roadhog had been using to make pancakes, and parts of Mei's broken phone and other assorted junk pieces.

Mei sat with her legs dangling and swinging off the least broken part of the sagging porch as Roadhog sat fanning himself with an old magazine, both of them watching the high-strung Junkrat chatter to himself as he seemed to randomly tape pieces of junk together and equally randomly rip pieces of junk apart. Occasionally he'd pull out a wrench and just bang loudly on something nearby, and Mei couldn't seem to figure out why. Roadhog at least seemed confidently unconcerned, so she tried to match his attitude, even as Junkrat ripped off another length of aluminum foil and started tying it around the innards of an old microwave.

"Do you think this will work?" she asked Roadhog idly, shielding her eyes from the bright noonday sun.

"He makes things work," the larger junker replied. "Somehow."

"I've been listening in on the eco-monitor and there are minor storms still everywhere in the northeast where we're located. It's amazing _this_ place hasn't been knocked down yet, it's still in the yellow zone."

"I've used it occasionally. We've been here before. He wouldn't remember it."

"You said it belongs to one of your old employers?" She asked, watching a discarded screwdriver go flying through the air.

"Mm. Belonged. To an employer."

"…Can I ask what happened to them?"

"Another employer paid more."

Mei decided it best not to pursue that particular subject, going back to watching his younger partner at work.

Junkrat hopped onto the roof of the shed, pulling along an extension cord and plugging it in to something she couldn't see, before jumping up to take hold of the powerline above once more, shimmying along it with both hands as he headed back to the main roof.

"He looks like a monkey," she mused, and giggled when Junkrat's shorts sagged around his stretched long, narrow waist, turning her eyes politely when she saw a little more of his rear than was appropriate. When she glanced back, he had managed to twist himself on the line and was facing her with a grin, seemingly ignorant of the fact that now his shorts were completely sagging on his front, and she almost caught a glimpse of- Her face went a deeper shade of pink but she didn't really look away as he pulled himself along the line with both arms, muscles glistening with sweat as he worked his lean body to and fro, his bare chest and rippling abdomen somehow even more on display than usual, all the way down to those shorts that were so close to falling off his bony hips…

Roadhog glanced down at her, following her gaze to his partner before sighing and grumbling slightly, fanning himself once more with his magazine. She could have sworn he was rolling his eyes beneath that mask. "Hmm."

She looked away as Junkrat scrambled back onto the main roof and vanished. "Well…I'm glad he's off the powerline. He could hurt himself," she mumbled, also fanning herself with one hand and pretending that it was definitely because of the hot weather.

"Mmhm."

"Oi, Mei! Give it a go now!" Junkrat called from somewhere on the roof.

"Okay!" She called back, eager for an excuse to flee as she hopped upright and ran back inside and headed for the computer. Like everything else in the little house, the computer was a horrifically outdated relic from before she had even been born. It wouldn't have been out of place in a museum, with a crude desktop tower and separate viewing monitor, and an awkward little tool she recognized from her technological history books called a 'mouse' that had been used for input. It took her a bit to drag it from place to place on the screen, hitting the little phone icon.

"I'm trying again!" she called out, and heard an answering bang from the rooftop.

There was a garbled dial tone, and the window flickered. The camera window remained black, but she heard static this time, then the voice of Athena introducing herself and preparing to rattle off options. She felt a little rude cutting her off, despite it being a simple computer voice. "Athena, this is Overwatch Agent Mei-Ling Zhou, security number 20151107, put me through to Winston immediately, it's an emergency."

"Understood, Mei. Welcome back. I am attempting to contact him now."

She waited, repeatedly hitting the camera button to try and get it to turn on, but the screen remained blank. Even worse, the signal seemed to be petering off, and she could hear more static and then what could have sworn was the faint sound of someone, probably Winston, speaking as though very far away.

" _-if it's real, I want it traced now. Bring up-_ " More garbled static, " _-on the display. If they still have her, th-_ "

Frowning, she cupped both hands around her mouth. "I'm losing the signal!"

There was another bang from up above, then a disconcertingly loud scraping noise. A moment later she tried hitting the camera screen again, and this time it responded. The picture was grainy and somewhat hard to make out, but there was the familiar visage of Winston peering back at her. Behind him stood Dr. Ziegler, McCree, and Lena, and all of them cheered when the fuzzy picture of the little scientist appeared on screen.

Winston sat back hard, placing a thick gloved hand to his chest in apparent shock. "Mei…"

Mei managed a smile of relief, a few tears squeezing from her eyes as she adjusted her glasses to wipe at her cheeks. " _Ni hao_ , Winston! Hello, everybody! I'm…I can't tell you how good it is to see you!"

Dr. Ziegler leaned forward, letting Winston get his bearings. "Hallo Mei, we're so glad to see you too. What is your status? Can you tell us what happened?"

Mei frowned as the picture wavered slightly, glancing up as there was another clank on the roof. "I'm not sure how much signal we can maintain here, I can't give you a full report. But our transport broke down and we were caught up in one of the red storms. I had to enact a full-vac cryo-freeze with everything I had in the tankard, but I didn't have time to make measurements or adjustments for time and mass. It was the only thing I could think of, and when we finally broke out, we were stranded in the red zone and had to walk for…several days? I'm not sure, I wasn't in very good shape. But we've made it to a safehouse! We're still alive! And I'm so sorry to make you worry, I'm so sorry!"

Winston shook his head, rubbing his chin. "No, no need to apologize. We all knew some emergency must have happened. I sent out search teams, Soldier 76 and Ana, Hanzo and Tracer, and Pharah and McCree-" McCree lifted his hat in the background as he was named, and Lena muttered something about 'never traveling with that stuffy prat ever again' as Winston continued, "We also tried to send in search drones, but the 'locals' seemed keen on knocking them out of the sky for parts. I'm…sorry, that we couldn't do more to find you…"

She lifted a hand to wipe at her nose. "I knew you'd try to find us. I never meant for the freeze to last that long, I just didn't have time-"

"Mei, darlin'," McCree interrupted in his smooth drawl. "From what I seen in that godforsaken desert, I know you did whatever you could just to get out alive. We're just real glad to see you."

"Just tell us where you are now, I'm sending in an extraction team for you right away," Winston said, typing rapidly.

Mei nodded, then glanced to Angela, who was still standing placidly in the background. Perhaps it was just the poor camera quality, but she could have sworn that Angela was giving her an extremely odd look before she leaned down to whisper to the simian scientist. Frowning, Mei turned her gaze back to her gorilla friend instead. "The junkers should be back any minutes, but I'll tell th-"

"Are you safe now?"

"What? Yes, we're at the safehouse somewhere in the eastern yellow zone, like I said. They're just outside."

"Is the door locked?" Winston looked past her.

Mei stared at them for a moment before it dawned on her what they were really asking. "No! No, the door's not locked, they're just outside to help set up the signal equipment. Whatever you're thinking, I'm sure it's not-" She looked up as the door banged open, and Roadhog lumbered into the living room, his pig mask peering in silent menace at the screen just over Mei's shoulder. A moment later, Junkrat's arms encircled the little scientist from the side, leaning to press a fond kiss to her temple before peering at the screen and waving cheerfully.

"How's it, Mei! Oi, I knew it'd work! Can't tell you how glad we are to even be seeing you dags again!" He grinned.

All eyes were watching as Junkrat kissed her so casually on camera, each of them wearing expressions of idle shock and turned to mixtures of amusement and confusion when she responded with a simple smile and a word of thanks.

"…Huh," McCree mused. "Guess it's one of them 'opposites attract' things."

"Awww, I think it's sort of sweet," Lena cooed.

Winston folded his hands in front of his face, vainly trying to hide his frown.

Angela lofted a pale brow, but lifted a hand to the others and tried to speak soothingly. "Now, I realize that a lot has happened in these past months, and I know we all have questions for one another…" The woman was blinking rapidly as she spoke, and Mei suddenly realized that the angelic doctor was trying to signal her with morse code, just like in their old training during potential hostage situations.

They thought she was in distress in more ways than one.

Mei's mouth dropped open, shaking her head. "Dr. Ziegler, I'm fine! I mean, I'm not _fine_ fine, but our circumstances were- Look, it's nothing like that."

Angela merely nodded. "I apologize if I seemed presumptuous, Mei, but I couldn't help but notice your wrists…"

She looked down at her wrists, having not even noticed the abrasions from days earlier when Junkrat had tied her to him to carry her over the wasteland. They had been overshadowed by her bleeding gums and hair loss and other more severe afflictions. There were red burn marks and bruises all around her wrists, and she lifted a hand to rub at one self-consciously, tightening her jaw slightly. "It's not like that! It's not what you're thinking, they weren't binding me like that or anything. I mean, we did use ropes, but for a different reason!"

McCree spit out part of his coffee in a wide spray that spattered a shrieking Lena, while Junkrat burst into wild giggles beside her. Mei's face reddened immediately, going to shove the skinny junker off screen. "You're not helping, Jamison! That's not what I meant! You all know that's not what I meant! Jamie tied my wrists together so I could ride on his back- Jesse, I see you back there laughing! It's not that! Stop! _Bái mù_!"

"BE that as it may," Winston suddenly boomed, silencing McCree with a glare as he adjusted his glasses. "It's clear the situation is not entirely…ideal. I'm sending immediate extraction."

"Wait! We're still in a very dangerous zone in the inner deserts! According to the new eco-monitor, there are still storms circulating around the northeast quadrant. The weather patterns all around here are going to be incredibly dangerous, and I can't in good conscience send anyone into that mess. I'm proposing that in two days we rendezvous at a safer point -"

Winston shook his head. "We don't have two days. We can brave the weather, we're coming and we're going to get you out. Lena, put in the fuel orders, I want a team there yesterday."

"No! Winston, no! I'm trying to tell you, it might be too dangerous-"

"We can handle it. We're coming to get you out. You can't remain in that…situation!" Again, the other scientist cut her off, and she recognized by the flared nostrils and glints of his pointed teeth that he was extremely agitated, and it was agitating her in turn.

Mercy recognized it as well, going to lay a calming hand on his shoulder. "Now, there's no need for this, I'm sure-"

Mei narrowed her gaze, that latent suffering-induced anger and hatred that she had only just gotten under control again rearing its ugly head somewhere inside her. She leaned forward, fists tightening, voice rising to an obvious challenge. "What _situation_ is that, Winston! You can't just ignore my advice, and I don't want any more of my friends in danger! It's worse here than I thought, we nearly died. I'm telling you that we need to wait two days, at the very least. I don't want anyone else hurt!"

Just like that, the atmosphere in both locations turned from joyous reunion to obvious tension. Lena and McCree seemed to fade back slightly into the background and Mercy lifted both hands in her usual plaintive peacekeeper mannerisms. Junkrat went to place a comforting arm around Mei, took a look at her face and thought better of it, and even Roadhog seemed to glance about unsurely as the two scientists faced off through the computer screen.

"You've been missing for four months, Angela says you're clearly sick, you have bruises all over your arms, and I promise you that I'll do everything within my power to…get you where you can get proper help. We can handle bad weather. You might not be able to see it right now, but I would never forgive myself for leaving you there again while you might still be in danger. I know that you might be feeling, um, strong emotions of bonding by going through admittedly troubled times, but you may have developed, erm, these tendencies as a coping or survival mechanism, while…er…" The gorilla stammered.

Mei's eyes widened slightly. That had been the wrong answer.

Angela winced, shaking her head quickly. "Now now, everyone involved here is an adult. Mei is well within her rights to do as she wishes, within reason. There's no-"

"Did you just suggest that I have Stockholm Syndrome? Because I want to wait? Because I've been here with the junkers?" The little climatologist's voice was quiet, almost dangerous.

"Oi!" Junkrat protested, looking put out. "I never gave her a syndrome! I did all them check-ups, even the ones below the belt! Doc Angelface said I'm cleaner than a nun's nasty!"

"I'm not saying that! It's just…when one spends a lot of time with certain people during periods of extreme emotional distress…" Winston trailed off uncomfortably.

Mei stood up abruptly in her chair, leaning into the monitor as if she could physically pass through it, voice raising to a shout that startled both parties on both ends. Pointing a finger at the startled ape, she began babbling in rapid Mandarin. Junkrat and Roadhog looked thoroughly lost, and Jesse and Lena gave each other a rather baffled look. Angela and Winston, both of whom spoke the language, looked shocked. Winston looked flustered, adjusting his glasses just to have something to do with his hands, staring down at the keyboard like a scolded child.

"And furthermore!" she spat, switching back to English, voice quavering and tears sliding down her cheeks despite her harsh words, "These marks on my wrists, they're from where Jamie tied them together so he could carry me on his back after I nearly died from heatstroke! He carried me for an entire day after I couldn't walk! And Roadhog revived me after the cryo-freeze nearly killed me! Both of them saved my life and kept me going! They're…They are my _friends_! And since I am still acting leader of this operation and am of sound mental health, though _I thank you for your concerns_ , I am denying any attempts at early extraction, for the health and safety of the team here, and to keep my other friends out of harm's way. We are going to meet you at the coordinates I send you in two days. That is final! This is Mei-ling Zhou, over and OUT. No! Before I go!…The food you sent with us, _STINKS_!"

Winston opened his jaws to answer but Mei hit the switch, the feed ending and the screen going black.

* * *

Mei sat back, lips tightened in a thin line as she breathed through her nose, pulling off her glasses to wipe at her watering eyes. Even then, she sniffled fiercely as she opened up the primitive old e-mail program, going to type in a set of coordinates and a time, hitting send before closing everything down with no more hesitation. In fact, she even petulantly banged the top of the computer shut a little more loudly than she should have, just because it made her feel a tiny bit better. That would show him!

Junkrat and Roadhog gave each other a look before the former uttered a little awkward cough. "Well! That was a foine howdoyado! Fucking monkey thought we were some sort of Stockholms keepin' the snowflake to ourselves?"

"Well he's wrong! Treating me like a child and treating you like…criminals!"

"Yeah! Who would call us criminals! Gall!"

She scowled slightly, Junkrat's joking tones not doing much to improve her mood so soon after fighting with her other friends. Her hands were still shaking from the confrontation just moments earlier.

"It's not funny!"

"It kinda is!"

"You're not like that! And he has no reason to think-"

Junkrat turned his eyes to the ceiling, touching his tongue to his gold tooth. "Er, don't want anyone thinking I'm gonna defend the monkey here, but isn't that what _you_ thought of us?"

Roadhog glanced down at the two and promptly turned and walked away, clearly not wishing to get involved.

Mei held up a finger and was about to give him a very self-righteous defense that she DID NOT think that way, but paused when she saw the way he was looking at her; a little more serious than usual, his focus entirely on her with perhaps just a tiny, tiny bit of bemused irritation. She'd just been called out.

She shut her mouth and looked down at the floor, brows knitting and averting her gaze. She finally found something to say a few moments later, mumbling down at her feet. "No, you're right. I did the exact same thing. I thought you were just some…some…"

"No-good bully? Criminal terrorist? Heh, yeah. S'allright, I didn't mind. You blow up a few buildings and bomb some suits, you get a reputation! Besides, I knew I'd win you over with my dashin' good looks and sparkling personality eventually!"

"…I'm sorry."

Junkrat was eying her again. He still wasn't particularly good at the concept of apologies. Such things were nearly nonexistent amongst the junkers. There had been the occasional begging or sniveling for survival, of course, but those types of 'sorry's were a whole different matter. Usually, things would simply work themselves out with a few explosions or punches, or ignored entirely and life would go on. He and Roadhog frequently came to blows over disagreements, which Roadhog always won, or petty revenge schemes and pranks, which Junkrat always won; but never any apologies.

Mei looked quite small now, only the tips of her toes even touching the ground from where she sat on her chair. The bruises around her wrists did look rather suspicious if he looked at them the right way, on top of all her other bruises and cuts and burns. She'd lost a noticeable amount of weight, had dark circles under her eyes, and even the scarf didn't entirely hide her lost hair or her angry, tired expression. She really looked like a junker now, and this time he wasn't entirely sure that he liked it. But here she was with her head down and apologizing to him, and he wasn't sure he liked that either.

Indignation faded away and he cautiously went to place a hand on her shoulder. She didn't shy away, but it didn't stop her next apology either. "I'm sorry I treated you that way. Lots of people in Overwatch don't have spotless pasts. Most of my friends don't. I don't. You're…you're a lot more than what I thought you were."

He pulled her closer. "Ah, darl, let it go. I mean, we were criminals. And I mean, you want to get technical, Overwatch is still criminal activity! S'just a nice step up, if you ask me. Comes with free food and water, toilets what actually work most of the time, soft beds, bomb bits and expenses, and some really cute icy-cold sheilas!"

"I just didn't know you very well. I know you better now. Please stop looking at me that way, I know it's hypocritical…I shouldn't have lost my temper at him like that…In front of everybody…Oh no, I really blew it. I need to apologize to Winston! Can we set up the signal again? I'm going to call him back!" Her despondency lifted as she reached for the computer, and Junkrat calmly went to drag her backward to keep her away, chair legs scraping the floor.

"Nah, you joking? I just watched you give that monkey a fucking earful, I'd say everything was well worth it. Besides, like you said, you're the boss here. We needed a few days, we got a few days."

She leaned her ragged head against his arm. "It's almost going to be strange. In just a few days we'll be going back. Home?"

Junkrat's expression faltered slightly. "Yeah…Home. Back to the base, yeah?"

She looked up at him, her expression much the same. The base wasn't home, not really. It was just where she'd gone when she'd woken up, because there was nothing left for her anywhere else. It had all the trappings of a home; her own room and her equipment and friends were all there, but she'd been eager to leave, even if it meant coming here. Junkrat's home had been destroyed and he'd fought hard to even survive amongst the ruins of the dangerous wasteland that had been left behind, dying a little more every day; but he felt no real loyalty to his new cause and, beyond creature comforts, had never regarded the base as a home in the first place.

And soon they would be going back.

She shifted slightly in his grasp. "I still feel a little peevish. Do you want to go blow something up? I'll watch…from a safe distance?"

Junkrat brightened immediately, pulling her up out of the chair and towards the door. "That's my girl! Leave it to me, love, I'll put on a show for you! We still got some time to Stockholm you, let's make it count!"


	16. Chapter 16

Junkrat scuttled across the side of the rocks that surrounded the little safehouse, occasionally squinting and pushing the sticky frags into place here and there. The first round of grenades had already done a number on the rock face, and he investigated each crack with renewed interest or digging out handfuls of metal shrapnel to shove into his pockets. He spun one last frag into the air and caught it with a smack before sticking it into place, then dropped down to the sandy ground, fell on his ass, got up as if he had meant to do that, and went loping back towards Mei's safety zone.

The safety zone wasn't much more than a square that she had drawn in the sand with one foot, where she'd tried to calculate the best area away from any flying rocky debris. She was also wearing an old army helmet that Roadhog had found somewhere in the dusty supply cellar. It was far too large for her, and she had to keep one hand atop it to keep it in place as she crouched down behind a boulder warily. She still flinched a bit every time an explosion went off, but she would also clap for him after a particularly good one, which made his heart go gooey in the center.

He leapt over the rock and crouched down next to her, pointing towards the scarred rock wall, holding up his detonator and watching the signal light blink to life. "Armed and ready! You want to do the honors, lovey?"

She blinked, wiping dust away from her glasses as she cautiously held out one hand as though the detonator itself might bite her. "Oh! Um, I don't know, it's so loud when they go off!"

He thought for a moment, before gingerly bending her fingers to open her palm, placing the detonator there before scooting around her, pulling her back against his chest with a grin and covering both her ears with his own hands. "Here, I got ya! Ready steady!"

She fumbled with the detonator for a moment before holding it out away from her like a gun, pulling her helmet down over his hands and her face before taking a breath and bringing her thumb down on the red button. There was a series of concussive explosions in response, the frags going off one after the other as she shrieked and fell back against the junker, who was laughing maniacally. Pebbles and scattered fragments of broken stone went skittering past them, followed by clouds of thick gray dust. Junkrat released his hold on her to wave an arm to clear it away as Mei coughed and sat up.

"I think I'm still going to leave the explosions to you, thank you," she said mildly, wiping at her glasses once more. "Oh my goodness, that's too much for my nerves."

He snickered, wiping a thumb across some dust on her cheek and somehow leaving it even dirtier than before. "Yeah, best leave it to the professionals. But you did real good here, love, in fact…Take a peek at this!" He grasped her hand and pulled her upright, waving proudly at the absolutely mangled mess of rock they'd ruined with his frag collection. There were large cast-off boulders laying in a haphazard pile at the base of the once pristine rock face, and fractures and cracks ran every which way in an almost spiderweb-like design. "Ta-daaa!"

"Well…we certainly did a number on it," Mei agreed.

"No, no, look closer!"

"Closer?"

"See, look there! It's a heart!"

Mei wiped down her glasses and held them steady, squinting. If she looked very, very hard, she could almost see what he was talking about. The pattern he'd laid them out in was fairly circular and came to a point at the bottom, and there was one hole in the rock that sort of dipped in the top…now that he'd said it aloud, it was sort of, very, very vaguely, approximately, almost kinda sorta blown into dents and cracks in the shape of a heart.

"Oh! Ooooh, I see it now! That's very sweet, thank you. You know…This actually has been rather cathartic."

"Yeah, it's cathartic as all hell! We should do it again. A building next time! A nice brick one, something red. Red's real romantic, you know. A whole city full of 'em. I'd blow up a city for you, darl," Junkrat sighed dreamily, already imagining it in his head as his eyes rolled upward.

"N-now let's not get ahead of ourselves!" Mei said quickly, waving both hands. "I think just blowing up a rock or two here was enough. Those explosions were so loud, though, do you think anyone could hear?"

"Nah, nobody around besides Hog anyway. Don't think anyone's been to this place in a long-arse time," he said, gaze still thoughtful. "Nobody's gonna bother us here. We could, uh…We could stay here, ya know?"

"Hm?"

"We could just tell the monkey and friends to fuck off. Could just stay here instead, fix things up, and live here; the three of us. We could go out scrappin', take out cash if we need it, hit some cities and then come back. Could get some plants and some chooks and raise 'em, ya know, make it real…I dunno…good? Could stay here. Or go somewhere else around here." He turned toward her with an odd and almost forlorn expression, and Mei's heart sank slightly. Even a round of blowing things up hadn't eased his worries, though he was trying a sort of lopsided false smile that looked nothing like his real one. "We'd get you fixed up first! That's real obvious! But then it's flippin' the bird to the lot of them, forget going legit, we can return to our Aussie roots and you can come with us! You and me and Roadie, that'll be real good, roight?"

She reached out to take his gloved hand gently. "You know why we can't do that, Jamie."

His brow furrowed with a rather unhappy expression, chewing his bottom lip as his long fingers wrapped around hers. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess so. Was a real nice thought though, don't you think?"

"I know you don't want to go back. But I don't think you want to stay here either. Not really."

"…No. Guess not really."

She frowned up at him before taking both his arms and winding them around her, pulling herself against his front. "We have to go back for now. But it'll be better than before. I'll help you. I know you have trouble with dealing with how the outside works, just like I have trouble here. But we'll help each other, right?"

He held her close, resting his chin on the dusty scarf atop her head. "Yeah, I guess that's fair. You uh…" He hesitated, and she could feel his grip tighten slightly around her, almost as if afraid to ask. "You'd be all right, then? Being with me? After going back to the base and the outside? I mean, no pressure but, uh…You'd wanna stay with me still?"

Guilt coiled heavily in the pit of her stomach, reminded of how close she had been to doing just that before everything that had happened. He'd been aware of it, probably afraid of the very thing Roadhog had confronted her about. She looked down at his single shoe, head against his chest. Things had changed between them since then. She'd seen another side to the junker, could look beneath the soot and chaos and confusion and see the Jamison behind the Junkrat. She nodded as resolutely as she could. "I'll stay with you. I know you feel apart from everybody else there. I know you feel kind of lost? Adrift, maybe? Because you've lost a lot, and you don't want to stay there but you also don't have anywhere to go, and maybe Roadhog can't help you with everything…And maybe you and I aren't as opposite as I thought before."

"Yeah?"

"Maybe it'll be better for us both this way. I'm sure I can help you too, like you help me. You didn't give up on me. Even when I was a bit of a pill to you at first, and kept having problems out here, you kept trying to help me, you didn't give up. And I…" She straightened, looking up at him boldly. "I won't give up on you either. I'll pick you up and carry you if I have to, just like you did for me. Got it? You're going to come with me, I'm not going to leave you behind. Ever. I'll pick you up and tie your wrists together around me and McCree can make lewd remarks about us!"

His grin had returned, giggling madly into her hair. "Oi, just like that? Going to carry me back to Gibraltar?"

"The entire way!"

"Blimey! Can't deny that, I guess it's settled," he said, crooking a metal finger beneath her chin, tilting her head up as he kissed her beneath the lopsided heart he'd blown into the rocks for her. Her lips were fierce against his and her embrace was tight and sincere; her prior hesitation had gone, and his doubts dissipated with it. He deepened the kiss, felt the slip of her tongue as it darted out to meet his, tearing away only as she started to trail her lips down his neck, just as his hands started to reach around towards her rear.

His plans went awry when she drew back and coughed, spitting out dust and a tiny pebble that had been lodged in the skin of his neck. Lowering down from her toes, she spat and scrubbed at her lips as he sheepishly wiped at the grit that had settled on his shoulders. "Damnit! Sorry about that, lovey. There, clean! Okay, we can try again, kiss time!" He pursed his lips and moved towards her, finding a hand blocking his face.

She shook her head wryly. "I think that's enough mineral intake for me today. The sun's almost down anyway, we should probably head back. I was thinking I might try cooking something tonight, give Roadhog a little break since he made all those pancakes for us before." She looked down, scuffing her shoe through the debris all around them, before leaning down and picking up a shard of shining red stone, shining it with one hand before tucking it into her pocket. "Thank you though, for the heart…and everything."

"Damn. Arright, I forgot about Roadie for a second there anyway. Well, guess we should get a start on that, come on. " Dropping an arm to her waist, he turned and started back towards the house.

* * *

Mei stood in the dry and dusty supply cellar beneath the house. There was a disconcerting amount of guns and ammo and a suspicious dark stain on the floor, and she was reminded of the shack's true purpose as a safehouse for criminals. But those stood off to the side packed in crates, and she tried to ignore them as she perused the selection of stored foods. There was a layer of dust on everything, at least several years' worth as she walked around with a gray-stained rag, wiping at labels and checking expiration dates. Most of the spices were expired to the point of tastelessness, but she was fairly sure she could whip up a pale imitation of flavor with what was left.

The Australians understandably took their perishable foods very seriously, and she was rather impressed at the sheer amount of supplies that were still quite edible. There were canned goods, sacks of rice and beans and lentils, sugars and honey, preserved meats, box meals, and several MREs that she vetoed immediately- if she never ate one of those awful things again it would be entirely too soon.

She took beans and rice, soy sauce and spices, and a veritable armload of food back up the stairs to the kitchen, where she found Roadhog waiting. She awkwardly lowered her ingredients onto the counter, edging up towards the stove as she began clattering about with bowls and cups. "No no no! You've already cooked for us enough, why not take a break tonight? I'll make us dinner, it's my turn."

"I've got something."

She turned to face him, and found him holding out a bowl covered with a towel. Pulling it off with a yank, Mei was greeted by the sight of several disgusting, writhing, shiny moist pale white grub-like creatures. Hog held the bowl up almost to accost her, and uttered a mild, "Boo."

Mei made a face but didn't flinch. "No thanks. Vegetarian, remember? What are they?"

"Witchetty grubs."

"Did you just try to scare me with witchetty grubs?"

"…Yes."

"Well, they're probably not too different than the fried silkworms we used to eat at the markets when I was a little girl." She smirked up at him, lifting a finger. "Just because I don't eat meat anymore doesn't mean you can scare me, Roadhog! I'm Chinese, I can probably frighten you Aussies with some of our dishes."

Roadhog looked down at her for a very long moment, his breath wheezing steadily in his mask, and for a moment she was afraid she might have offended him with her joke. But a moment later he nodded as if he'd come to a decision, rumbling a low, "You're all right."

"Well, thank you. I think you're all right too. What are witchetty grubs? Where do you find them?"

"Went out while you were out with Fawkes. Found a dried spring southwest of here, trees around it were full of them…Wasn't sure if grubs counted as meat, thought maybe you could eat them too."

Mei blinked up at him, unable to hide a rather touched smile. "That is…very nice of you. I appreciate it a lot. They're still meat, but I'm sure you or Jamison won't mind eating my portion."

"Mm."

"Maybe you should show me how to cook these though, just in case? Here, do you want to see my recipe for semi-Chinese four-spice green bean fried rice? I think you might like it?"

Roadhog nodded, pulling an apron on over his head and taking his place next to her at the stove.

* * *

The three had eaten their fill of Mei's canned beans and soy sauce fried rice dinner, and the boys had devoured the cooked grubs eagerly enough. Jamison, ever the food burglar, made the mistake of trying to steal one of the prized witchetty grubs when he thought Hog wasn't looking, and a scuffle had broken out yet again between the two. Mei had opted out as usual, and stood eating out of a can of pears in the doorway. She watched them with a little smirking smile as Roadhog fended off his smaller partner, though she made a slight face at the clouds of dust still coming off Junkrat's flailing form.

Junkrat eventually relinquished the grub back to its rightful owner, and nursed his wounded pride and appetite with the very last piece of his packaged beef jerky as a consolation prize.

"So! I'm…just going to have another bath!" Mei said, setting her meal down by the sink. "I'll clean out the tub afterward though…so you know, if you want to clean up, you can. The bath feels really nice. If you want to. I'll leave the water open too."

"Yeah, love, no need, but thanks!" He waved her off, taking another bite.

"Oh…Yes, okay." She looked briefly disappointed for some reason, before turning and plodding off down the hall towards the little bathroom.

Roadhog waited until she'd gone before turning his masked face to his partner. "Take the bath."

Junkrat snorted, his sharp teeth shearing through a piece of plastic along with his jerky, causing him to spit it off to one side. "I'll take a fuckin' bath when we get back to base, you know the doc's going to make us anyway."

Roadhog wearily lifted one giant hand to his forehead in clear exasperation. Normally content to let his employer bumble about with his own business, watching him miss social cue after social cue in this particular matter was starting to wear on him, especially with little else to occupy his attention. "When she's done. Take a bath. Clean up."

Junkrat lifted a brow, lifting one arm and giving himself a sniff. "What? I ain't that bad!"

"She's cleaning up. She wants you to clean up. Think." Hog tapped one finger to his temple.

Junkrat sat back and tried to think about it. The doctor probably would probably hose them all down once they got back, and he wasn't physically stinking. Much, anyway. Not as bad as he'd been before, like that time Roadhog had killed a crocodile with his bare hands just so he could throw Junkrat in its pond. Mei was always polite about strange things, so it stood to reason that she was just being polite now about the little tub. Although she had seem a bit put off about the dirt thing when they'd stood beneath the rock heart he'd made for her. And she had looked awfully disappointed when he'd said no to the bath. In fact, now that Hog said it, maybe she really was suggesting it in one of her roundabout polite ways. She wanted him clean so they could both be clean at the same time and then the chances were much more likely she would want to-

His eyes widened, waving a finger ingeniously. "Well why didn't she just say so!"

Hog grunted and wandered off to the living room, clicking on the television to try and get his mind off this nonsense.

Junkrat was already loping down the hall, pegleg clacking as he sat down in front of the bathroom door, eying the piece of tape that covered the hole where his peg had broken through before. "Yeah! Yeah, okay! Oi, Mei! I'm next! I'm right outside when you're done, save some cleanin' stuff for Junkrat! Mmm, yeah, can't wait for a good bath, you know me!"

He heard a sloshing noise from inside, then a muffled tone of surprise. "Oh! Okay, just give me a few more minutes!"

He pressed his ear to the door. "I can come in now if you need help?"

"Nice try!"

He fidgeted outside the door, waiting for what seemed like an eternity until he heard her struggle to tip the tub over onto the drain in the floor with a loud gurgle, then shuffling about before the door opened. She looked much like she had before when he'd accidentally barged in on her bathing time, shiny and wet and a nice clean pink, this time with a little white towel that only barely hid the tops of her thighs and struggled to stay wrapped around her generous bosom. She was apparently self-conscious about it, trying to hike it both down and up at the same time. "I tried to hurry. I found some soap, um, left it on the sink. I'll just…leave you to it? I'll go get changed." She went to edge past him.

Jamison had the presence of mind to cover the front of his shorts with both hands quickly, his mouth suddenly feeling very dry as he watched her pass. "…Uh-huh. Soap. Bath," he said dumbly, staring until she had hurried around the corner.

He was quickly brought back to reality as he shut the door behind him, faced with the task of bathing. Bathing was never any fun, not like the beach or the ocean. But if Mei wanted a clean Junkrat, he'd get her the cleanest Junkrat ever. He kicked the water jug over to empty into the wash basin, going about the grim task of removing his mechanical leg and arm- leaving him with one arm and hand, one leg and foot, one elbow, and a mostly useless stump of a thigh. Usually Roadhog helped him with this sort of task so he didn't end up crawling around on the floor like he was now, but he wasn't going to call for his assistance this time, if only for his own pride. He scooted up to the tub and awkwardly climbed in, nearly tipping it over in the process and losing the soap somewhere in the water.

It turned out that maybe he'd needed a bath more than he'd thought, scrubbing and soaping his dusty form until the water was dark and was possibly starting to turn into liquid cement. But he was thorough and washed every body part he thought she might be interested in; including his face, behind his ears, his ragged hair, in between his toes and fingers, his abs, his ass, and especially his donger. Mei deserved only the sparkliest and cleanest of dongers.

He was sopping wet when he exited the tub, flopping out of the side like a dying fish and grumbling as he impatiently emptied out the filthy water. Mei had thoughtfully left him a towel, and he sat on the wet floor and dried off as much as he could before pulling his prosthetics back on. His shorts were, as always, pretty much a lost cause- they were so dirty they they could stand up on their own without a pair of legs in them- but he beat them on the edge of the sink to try and get the dust out. Slicking back his wet hair in the cracked mirror- Had he cracked it at some point? He probably had, somehow- he had to admit he was looking quite suave.

He exited the bathroom and almost slammed face-first into Mei, who was lurking right outside the door, just as he had done minutes earlier. She held a blanket to her chest, coughing a bit as her eyes darted up to his face, her cheeks slightly pink in the dim light. "You look really nice with your face clean. I like your freckles," she blurted out, wincing a bit at how nervous she sounded.

Junkrat took it in stride as usual, patting his damp hair. "Forget I have 'em most of the time," he admitted. "But yeah! I look real good! Sooooo! What are we gonna do tonight?"

Mei was valiantly trying to keep her voice even. "Well! We could do…lots of things! Like, um, watch tv. Er…read a book? Watch…tv?"

"Oh! Uh…yeah, guess we could do that."

Inside the living room, Roadhog pressed his masked face into a palm and muttered a low, " _Fuck_ 's sake."

She held up her blanket quickly. "You want to watch the stars with me, though? If you want to? Outside?"

The familiar devilish grin spread across his newly cleaned and freckle-dotted face. "Now that there's a good idea, darl. Come on, I know a real great spot a lil' distance away from the house. Nice and sheltered, picked it out before hand, just real perfect for uh, star-gazin'." He grasped her hand before her face could get any redder, their steps a little more urgent as they hurried past Roadhog and out the screen door, which banged shut behind them as the pair vanished out into the night.

Hog lazily watched them go, lifting the remote control and turning up the volume.

"Hmm."

* * *

Mei had to struggle a little to keep up with Junkrat's pace, stumbling a bit in the dark as he led her through the rocks and scrubby underbrush, finally stopping in a little sandy alcove and helping her to spread out the blanket. She sat down primly, and he launched himself into the air and landed heavily on one side in his most roguish pose, one leg bent up and his face propped up in one hand as romantically as he was able. "How's this for star-lookin'!"

She did glance up, and paused to admire the dazzling array of stars above them, never unimpressed at the night sky here in the wasteland and the spectacle of the visible dust of the milky way. "They are very pretty."

"Yeah, they're nice. You wanna get comfy?" He patted the blanket next to him.

She took a breath before lowering herself downward, sprawling out on her back and not protesting when he scooted a little closer. She was thinking back on how best to politely flirt, maybe start with some conversation about the stars and then move on to something that would properly show her interest, maybe-

"You wanna fuck?"

Her throat closed up suddenly as she turned to look at him wide-eyed. A pair of golden eyes stared back at her, practically glowing like an animal's in the darkness.

"You don't have to be nervous. It's okay if you don't wanna. But I think you wanna? I ain't too good at all the manners stuff, but I think you want a nice relaxing root with yours truly and you can't just come out and say it. I mean, maybe I got it wrong, maybe the bathing and the little glances and the stars and stuff are just things you actually do, but you know me, darl, I ain't good at subtle. So I'm just asking right out, you wanna fuck?"

She licked her lips, rolled them together, clearing her throat a little. "W-well, I just…the stars are really nice and everything, and I guess that was a little abrupt…but…"

He rested a hand atop her arm, moving a little closer as she stumbled over her answer. "You know I wanna fuck you. Have for ages, but I can wait. Don't mind waiting. Or you can say you don't wanna, I'm a real polite bloke!"

"I-I mean…I think…"

"It doesn't have to be a big spectacle, darl. Can be nice n' casual as you like. I can make it real good for you. Take all those worries off your mind for a bit. Can do it however you want it most. However you want it, if you want it, Mei. Just…ya gotta let me know, darl, none of this bush-beatin' nonsense. Just a yes or no. Because I d-"

His words were cut off as her lips crashed into his, his eyes widening briefly before fluttering shut. Whatever statement he was about to deliver devolved into a garbled moan until her lips broke apart from his with a little gasp. For a moment they stared at one another, both tensely hopeful, before Mei managed to speak up.

"Yes."

She lay back as his body moved over hers, blotting out the stars.


	17. Chapter 17

His immense height seemed to irk him somewhat as he loomed over her, back arched and bent almost double as he kissed her. The metal of his mechanical hand was cold against her face, touching without feeling as his flesh hand went to untie the scarf from the back of her head. She looked to the side as it came away, disliking how exposed it made her feel, to have the ugly remnants of her hair on display once more. It turned out he just wanted to run his hands through it, or what she had left. More kisses across the side of her face soothed her, as he muttered slurred whispers about how pretty she still was, how he liked her hair like this way too, about what a 'beaut' he found her, how not to worry about a thing. She let herself relax somewhat, removing her glasses and setting them aside as the world went out of focus. He'd promised to take her mind off this kind of trouble, after all.

Her body had already been sweltering from the ever-present heat, and the man on top of her somehow burned even hotter. This wasn't going to be like the other times she had made love. This probably wasn't going to be 'making love' at all. She couldn't be sure if Junkrat even knew of that kind of love. Love was supposed to be soft and gentle; love was thoughtful and polite and required trust built upon over months, possibly years. This was ugly and fevered and crude and happening so fast; it was everything she would have expected from the junker before…before she really knew him. But she'd come to know him and he'd come to know her. And god, she wanted to know more. The heat of him had scorched away all the sense in her.

Their kisses grew fevered, tongues moving to touch and taste one another. His hands slammed palms down on either side of her head as he climbed atop her and slid downward, lowering his face and peppering her neck with over-eager kisses, his sharp teeth nipping lightly at the meaty area between her throat and shoulder. He grumbled upon finding the straps of her shirt in his way, and impatiently hooked a finger under them and started to pull them downward.

The straps of her tank top slid down her sweat-dampened arms, pinning them to her sides as she lifted her chin and uttered a quiet noise of approval. Torrid, hot breath moved across her collarbone, lips ghosting downward as that same seeking finger crooked around the top of her shirt, just above her bosom, and very hesitantly pulled that down as well, the fabric slithering smoothly over the swell of her breasts before rumpling just below her ribcage. She couldn't hide her damned blush, she never could. It started on her cheeks and spread outward to the tips of her ears, flushing all the way down to her now fully revealed chest. She turned her head away, sheepish, but peeked back when he rose up slightly atop her, a look of smitten reverence on his face.

A more refined lover might have soothed her embarrassment or offered her a word of comfort. Jamie just openly stared down at her breasts, biting back his stupid grin after a very long moment. "Told you I always thought your tits were ace. You're the real dinky-di, lovey. I finally get to see you like this, and it's even better than all those nights I spent imagining them."

She covered her eyes with both hands. "Don't tell me you were thinking of them like that!"

"Couldn't help it. They was always covered by that coat, and then that first time I saw you whip that off and saw that lil' blue tankie top of yours, I tell you right then and there I cracked a fat. Like the biggest, hardest…What? Why the look? I'm just being honest, darl, thought you wanted me to be honest."

"Oh my gosh, that's not what I meant and you know it! You're just trying to get me flustered. I know what you're- aah!"

Her words halted as his head dipped abruptly, the scorched tips of his scraggly blond locks brushing against her chin as the wet flat of his tongue pressed in the cleft of her breasts, dragging slowly in a long and leisurely lick up between them. She no longer smelled or tasted of her usual chemical shampoos or flowery extracts, but heat and sweat and road dust and something that was vividly her with nothing to mask it, something sweeter and fresher than anything out of his native desert. His long tongue stretched out and dragged back around as he bent over her, licking and sucking and leaving a trail of kisses on his way around the soft, soft white flesh of her breast until he finally reached its peak, and the adorable pink nub atop it. She couldn't suppress a sigh and a shiver as he took the nipple within his lips, tongue swirling with surprisingly delicate motions for one normally so brash. Tingles crept along her spine as he suckled at her, large hands finding each breast and groping at the supple roundness of them, rolling them in his palms as his mouth moved from one to the other before squeezing them together, burying his face in her bosom and sighing happily.

Her own hands wandered, exploring his strange body, really touching him for the first time. Where she was delicate and cushioned, he was all hard angles, skin toughened and bronzed from the unrelenting sun, stretched thin over bones that were tangible through sinew and lean muscle. He was an amalgamation of hunger and danger and stolen opportunities, and the design inked on his bicep represented the only things he had ever known and relied upon, and even come to love; fire and death. Her fingers traveled downward, over his gaunt ribcage and the ridges of his toned abdomen, down to where his belts were slung low on his bony hips. Emboldened, she let her fingertips slip in past, until she found the slope of his lower stomach and the coarse hair beneath.

He felt her touches, feather light and a little nervous and so, so soft, just like the rest of her. Her other hand slid from his tattoo to the side of his face, and he leaned into it like an overly-affectionate cat, even lifting his head from where he had been worshiping at her chest and moving up to face her, golden eyes alight.

"Gonna make it so good for you, Mei," he whispered shrilly, "Dreamed of this. Every night, dreamed of this. Wanna hear you moan when I fuck you, wanna see your face when-" he shuddered hard at the thought, eyes rolling back and closing even as his hips thrust forward and moved against her as if they had a mind of their own, until she could feel the hard outline of him against her thigh, straining through his dirty shorts. "Tell me how ya like it and I'll do it. I'll do anything, just wanna be good."

She found herself nodding along with him, as crude and halting as his words were. She liked it. She liked the crudeness of him now, speaking so brazenly about his need to give her pleasure. There was no conniving and no shame with him, just an open sincerity about how badly he wanted her. He cursed and moaned and drooled and the things he whispered to her were filthy, but she enjoyed them almost more than all the compliments and suave lines she'd been given in the past. Jamison kept few secrets and thought she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever known, and she believed his every word.

Still, there was a desperation in his movements and his tone, overstimulated and overexcited before they could even begin. She knew him well enough now to recognize the signs of his agitation, even the good kind. He was going too fast, too set upon the 'explosion' at the end, the goal, and this time she knew she needed to slow him down. The last thing she wanted was him hurting himself or her in the process. She reached up to place both hands upon his, stilling their urgent groping. His brows shot up, tilting his head down at her in a questioning way before sliding back, letting her sit up.

He was already babbling apologies. "You wanna stop again? I did it wrong again, didn't I? S'fine! Sure! I can just go-"

"Jamie, I want you to lie down on your back," she murmured.

He paused at that, and she couldn't hold back an amused little half-smirk when his voice broke, a high-pitched squeak. "…W-huh?"

"Lay back for me, please?" she replied sweetly. "You've done that before, right?"

"Yeah! Uh, loads of times! Had folks linin' up to do it! Just gonna- yeah, gonna lay back here!" He looked genuinely shocked at this deviation from his plan, but his grin returned a moment later as he hurried to comply, pulling himself all the way off her and scrambling to position himself on the blanket. He was so tall that the length of fabric wasn't even enough for him, and as he settled back on the rough cloth, his heel scraped the sand. Not that it mattered to him, his foot could have been dangling into molten lava and he wouldn't have moved it. His wiry body lay spread eagled in what he fervently hoped was an inviting manner, though his form was practically vibrating from anticipation as he watched her gaze move lazily to the tented front of his shorts.

He'd been lying before; people had never exactly been lining up to root with someone like Junkrat. For reasons he couldn't understand, he'd never been the most popular bloke. Nearly every partner before then had been something quick and rough in the alleys of Junkertown, had involved money or favors being exchanged, been a ruse to trick him into letting his guard down for a more easily slit throat, or had been something he didn't even want- although he did his best to forget those ones. Part of him still couldn't believe that he finally had his hands on the icy lady of his dreams herself, that at any moment her soft skin and warm touches would melt away and he would wake up in bed with his hand down his trousers again. But it was real; she was real, and the way she was looking at him made his insides feel even funnier than they usually did.

Teasing him too much wasn't a kind thing to do, and Mei had to admit that she was a little more impatient than usual, herself. Especially since she was only half-dressed, and he was…well, he was ALWAYS only half-dressed, but it still wasn't ideal. With a few awkward little clicks of metal and shuffles of fabric, she took the initiative, pulling off his belts and unzipping and loosening his shorts enough that she could shuffle them down and off his long legs, throwing them carelessly off to the side. She was not at all surprised to see that Jamison didn't bother with underwear. He also didn't bother with any sense of modesty whatsoever, and gave her a leering grin as his length sprang to full attention once free of its restraints, curving up to rest against his lean and muscular stomach.

"Oi, Mei."

"What?"

He grinned and lewdly gestured down at himself with both hands. "Junkrat, primed n' ready!"

She snirked and laughed aloud, and any nerves and tension seemed to unwind with that one stupid joke. "Well, so much for setting the mood." She reached up and almost tenderly took his face in both hands, rubbing her thumbs along the angular jut of his cheekbones. "Jamison… _Bú yào ɡuǎn nǐ zài bié rén yǎn lǐ shì shén me yànɡ zi ，_ _zài wǒ xīn lǐ，_ _nǐ shì wán měi de."**_ she recited in her native tongue, the syllables sharp and crisp compared to the lazy twang of his Australian accent.

He responded with an unabashedly pleased sugary smile, cheeks smushed slightly with her fingers. "Dunno what you're sayin' but I love the way you say it."

"I will tell you later," she responded slyly. "But right now…"

She silenced any retort with a kiss, crawling up to nestle into the crook of his flesh arm, which wrapped around her and squeezed fondly as their lips met once more, his tongue flitting eagerly against hers. She broke away only to bring one hand up in front of her face, eyes meeting his as she let her own tongue loll outward, dragging wetly across her open palm. It wasn't her preferred method of lubricant, but she had learned to rough it over the weeks, and now was no different. Besides, she had a feeling he would enjoy the little show, and she was right. Jamison's eyes went wide, pupils dilating even further as he watched her, gaze following as she reached downward and finally took hold of him. His hips jerked as though her very touch had electrocuted him, thrusting up into her hand and sliding almost comically off to the side of her slicked palm. Her other hand shot forward, gripping his chin and pulling him into another kiss, distracting him enough that she could finally take hold of him properly, earning a low moan for her efforts as she started to very slowly pump her wrist around him.

She tried to keep her modicum of control, keep things steady and keep him grounded for now as she whispered against his lips. "Do you like that?"

"Y-yeah," he hissed, trying to relax and let her work him. He kept watching her, the way her hand gripped around his length firmly, her saliva easing his passage up into the tightness of her fist. And he did indeed like it. "Like it a lot."

She continued murmuring into his ear, both in English and Mandarin, occasionally asking him questions. Did he like this? Did he like this more? Each and every time he answered in the affirmative, but she was learning his tells as she went. There would be a hitch in his voice when there was something he liked in particular, or he'd give her a squeeze of encouragement, and occasionally his eyes rolled back when she set a pace he really liked. It didn't surprise her to find that he liked things a little rough, when she gripped him hard enough to be just shy of pain, constricting him more tightly than most other men she'd been with, and how he moaned and cursed as he tried to thrust into her hand. He had started panting at some point as she sped her aching wrist up faster, uttering a harsh rasping noise before he abruptly went to grab her arm. "F-fuck! Stop! Ya gotta stop, love! I'm trying not to blow, here! Can't believe I'm even sayin' that, but-"

"I wish we had something to use instead of, well, spit. I was trying to make it wetter."

"Hehehe. What, never had to do it without the slickey stuff? Howsabout you lay back now, and I'll show you WETTER." His long tongue lolled from his mouth, curling to roll up over his upper fangs like a hungry wolf. "No worries. I see you. Promise I'll do it soft…unless you want otherwise."

Her shoulders hunched and a light pinkess spread over her cheeks, though this time it was more pleased than embarrassed, sitting up with her fingers grasping the soft fabric of both her leggings and her panties, pulling both down in one go only to toss them aside to land somewhere in the dark on top of his discarded shorts. Shuffling about some on the blanket, Junkrat gently took hold of both her knees, helping position her before spreading them apart and gazing down at her with evident lust, unable to keep from grasping himself and stroking lightly with his flesh hand. "Now there's a sight I wanna remember. Ah, lookit you, so cute and pink and sweet, just want to eat you up."

"Softly. It's been a while." she reminded him.

He made an 'OK' circle with his mechanical thumb and forefinger before wasting no more time, lowering his face between her thighs and immediately sliding his tongue along the entire length of her slit, the damp warm muscle dragging slowly from bottom upwards, ending with a deft little swirl atop the sensitive little pink nub at the top. It made her shiver, goosebumps rising on her arms and neck at the feel of him. It really had been a long time. She groaned a little, lifting up on her elbows to watch him. His bright golden gaze was visible just over the rise of her belly, head moving slightly up and down as he swirled his tongue around her, then within her, one hand moving up to her inner thigh to keep her open for him. He was still being careful, though, and she felt safe enough to let her head drop back, relaxing as she let herself enjoy this. One hand moved of its own accord, finding his patchy blond hair and taking hold, uttering little breathless noises of pleasure as he explored her with his tongue.

"S'right?" He questioned, pulling off just enough that she could feel air cooling the saliva where his tongue had just been, making her miss the feel of him even more.

She nodded wordlessly, body jolting a moment later when she felt a finger join his tongue, pushing inside her as he licked and sucked at the adorable little button of nerves. It was starting to become a little intense, her breathing loud and rhythmic as a second finger was added, thrusting steadily deeper. The sounds they made were positively sinful…she must have been thoroughly soaked. Maybe it really had been longer than she wanted to admit. Around and around his tongue went, lapping and kissing as those long digits fucked into her, opening her up and touching places she could never reach herself, making her core flutter delightfully against his fingertips as he curled them deftly inside her. Eventually he set his attentions soley onto her clit, sucking and massaging with his strong tongue until she could feel herself starting to unravel. She could have come like that, she knew. It would have been easy, and Jamison's enthusiasm showed no signs of waning.

Instead, she went to cradle the side of his face, pulling her hips away even as his mouth tried to follow her. He looked almost a bit put out, like she had taken something away from him. He looked up at her as if expecting an answer, wiping at his shining lips with his forearm. "Was still good? You said you wanted wet, you felt and tasted nice and wet to me. Good?"

"V-very good. Too good. I almost…"

"You can, ya know. You can do it lots. I want you to."

Jamie wasn't the only one at risk for being overstimulated. It had been too long for her, and she was afraid she'd be too sensitive, too sore, and at risk of missing the opportunity for something far more satisfying than his fingers. She soothed him with another touch, grasping his hand and pressing kisses to his scarred knuckles. "Not yet. I don't want to yet. It was good…but I want something else. Lay back down for me?"

Relief spread across his features as she helped ease him back down once more before throwing one leg across his narrow lap, straddling him as she sat up on her knees, one hand reaching between them to take hold of his length and hold it steady. He was still fully hard, how could he be anything else when she was so close to him? He bit his lip, both hands lifting and fingers wiggling as if to grab her again, but he waited. He waited and watched, as difficult as it was, as she held him in place, guiding him to the warmth between her thighs, deliciously wet and ready for him and…

He made a low growling noise in his throat as the head of his cock slid into her without the slightest resistance, as slick and as smooth as silk. She braced both hands against his chest, her weight still resting on her knees as she very slowly eased downward. It was an agony of the best kind, inch by torturous inch as she slid down him, occasionally rolling her hips in a slow circle. He felt ready to leap out of his skin, made himself shut his eyes and focus on the feel of it, more and more of that magnificent heat inside her until he finally felt her weight descend on him fully, taking all of him at once. He was inside her. He was inside her and it was like someone had lit a billion fuses in him all at once and left them to burn.

He dared to open one eye and was greeted by the magnificent sight of her flushed face in an expression of bliss he'd never seen her wear before, making more little circular motions with her hips to adjust herself to his girth. She'd said it had been a long time, likely she was tight. No, she was definitely tight, and it felt amazing, but the last thing he'd ever do was cause her discomfort now. It couldn't be like his normal frantic rutting back in Junkertown. This needed to be good, the best. He needed to etch this into his damaged memories, remember her like this forever if he could.

Mei concentrated on the start of a slow back and forth motion atop him, as the soreness from long-overdue penetration gave way to the beginnings of pleasure. After a few moments, when she was sure she was ready, she lifted herself upwards until she had almost pulled entirely away before lowering down again. His hands drifted towards her hesitantly, almost as if afraid to touch her, and she nodded as he took a gentle hold on each hip. He let her set the pace, still slow, still steady, soothingly massaging up and down her thighs. But a slow pace wouldn't do for long. Not when they both wanted more. She braced herself, leaned down to tangle their lips in another kiss as her hips began to bob faster, his hands helping lift her up and down, truly beginning to ride him. The exertion of it combined with the desert night soon had her sweating, what remained of her bangs slicked across her damp forehead. Jamison was responding beneath her, his hands moving all over her as if he couldn't decide what he wanted to touch most- whether he wanted to cradle the plush flesh of her rear, or grasp onto both of her breasts, or dig his fingers into the cushioned flesh just above her hips, or tenderly run his fingers along the sides of her pretty face; instead settling on groping her all over in increasing zeal, mapping out her body as he committed every bit of her to memory.

She looked down at him through half-lidded eyes, her breath a steady panting as she rode him, uttering a pleased little gasp when his hips started to rise up to meet hers. He found her rhythm easily, hands taking hold of both sides as he started to thrust up into her as he helped bring her down into him. She didn't mind the guidance, nor the way he was helping support her as his powerful body began to slam up into her with delicious force, whispering filthy encouragements the entire time. "Yeah…yeah, fuck me, Mei…Fuck me, just like that, s'good…"

Though his words urged her on, she could feel herself flagging. A few days of rest wasn't enough to undo the damage the outback had done to her, and her stamina waned more quickly than she liked. Her little gasps of enjoyment began to hint more of gasps of coming exhaustion, and her pace showed signs of slowing even as she tried to keep up, tried to keep their pleasure building. His ears seemed to perk slightly as if honing in on the sound, and he gripped her hips and physically brought her to a stop, still grinding himself up into her even as she leaned down to rest her head against his bony chest. "S-sorry…I'm not…"

"Don't be," he said, "Don't be sorry about nothing, love. You did real good, drivin' me mad." He grasped onto her arms and tilted to suddenly roll with her, sitting up so as not to crush her as he quickly laid her out on her back. He positioned himself eagerly back between her thighs, pausing only to enjoy this view of her, glistening with sweat and her ample chest heaving for breath, face flushed as her dark eyes gazed up at him. He offered a wink, leaning over her and placing greedy kisses against her breasts. "How bout I drive you mad for once?"

"But you're always driving me mad?" she shot back, smirking and smoothing a stray lock of hair back from her face.

"Oooh, sassy," he grinned with clear approval, pulling her legs into place around his hips as he took his cock in one hand, swiftly guiding himself back into her. He pushed back inside her warmth with a happy little exhalation, head bowing as he let her inner heat overwhelm his senses once more. For a woman whose persona- and sometimes demeanor- tended to be so icy, she certainly was nice and hot on the inside. He began thrusting once more, unwilling to lose the more frantic pace from before as his hips pounded inward. As nice as it had been to have her on top, this position gave him more room to maneuver, a way to focus all his jittery energy into one action as he mindlessly bucked forward. He wanted fast, and deep, and to bury himself into her again and again until she forgot everything else but him- maybe just get a glimpse of the way he always felt when he was around her.

He was invigorated further as her moans grew steadily louder over the sounds of smacking wet flesh. He was delighted to see that she was a squirmer, writhing actively underneath him as her small hands fisted the rough fabric of the blanket, spine curving and hips arching, her legs wrapping around his lower back. His pupils dilated until they were pools of black rimmed by bands of bright yellow, and his grin turned dark and hungry once more as he caged her in with his larger body, grasping onto her hips until his fingers dented into her flesh, pulling her into him with every hard pound deeper inward. He knew he was probably bruising her. He had tried so hard to be a real civilized gent, every goddamn step of the way. But now she was keening beneath him and her smell was all around them and god the noises she was making, and he couldn't bloody think straight anymore. All he knew was that she was slick and hot and he was going to ride her into the ground until the fucking earth itself cracked in two.

The junker had inadvertently kept his promise to Mei about 'taking her mind off things'. She was a messy, panting, incomprehensible mess and she didn't care a bit. She was soaked with their shared sweat and her body was burning all over, as this living embodiment of fire seemed intent on melting away at whatever ice was still left in her. She was going to ache tomorrow, she knew, but there wasn't even the possibility of stopping now. Her head lolled back, lashes fluttering and lips open as she moaned long and loud. The exposure of her throat directed Jamison's face down into it, his lips and tongue dragging along the expanse as he traced her pulsing heartbeats, traveling to the more meaty side of her neck where he suddenly bared his teeth and bit down. She cried out, her fingernails retaliating against his back, but he merely laughed as madly as ever and withdrew, leaving a bruised purple ring where his pointed teeth had nearly broken through. It was only a tinge of pain that melded with the pleasure still rolling through her, and she could feel her ears ringing and her nerves blazing as she felt herself nearing her crescendo.

"F-fuck! Fuck, Mei!"

" _Qǐng nǐ,_ Please…Just a little…H-harder!"

His eyes widened as he braced himself and bore down upon her with everything he had. His grip turned to hard iron just to try and hold her in place as she squirmed and tossed back and forth. He uttered a cacophony of noises, grunting and hissing and cursing as though he was almost fighting her, nearly drowning out her sighs and whines. She knew she wouldn't last long against such an onslaught, and with a few more crushing blows from his hips, it was done. Her toes pointed as her legs tightened around his waist, her back raising up off the blanket as she clung to him. She saw stars, far brighter than the ones in the night sky, and uttered a piercing and final little wail as her nerves pulsed all at once and then abruptly relaxed.

She went limp in his grasp, battered and drained with a barely-there smile on her lips. Junkrat grinned down at her, a droplet of perspiration rolling down his face and dripping off his chin as he continued to pummel away at her. He'd clearly satisfied her, and was now free to actively chase down his own release. Not that he needed much urging. He'd been fantasizing about this for months. He almost reluctantly tore his eyes away from her dreamy smile and focused instead on the delicious burn of friction in that snug slip of heat between her thighs, how her marvelous tits bounced with every thrust into her, the curves of her soft little body covered in a combination of their fluid and sweat.

"Jamie..." she moaned suddenly.

He gasped aloud, and she noticed the way his body arched abruptly and how sharply he inhaled at hearing his name.

How long had it been since someone had said his name like that? His real name. Not 'Junkrat' or 'darl' or any of the multitude of Australian pet names or slang they used here. Had anyone whispered his name like that, calling for him and only him?

He paused, groaning breathlessly. "Yeah. C-can you say it like that. Just like that."

"Jamie," she answered, and then began to pant his name aloud, almost chanting as she breathed out again and again. "Jamie, Jamie, Jamie…"

His lanky form shivered, arms tightening around her as he felt the fuses inside him burn down towards their end. He thrust brutally hard, his primitive mind blanking out everything else except this as his head bowed and his entire posture coiled and tightened. Seating himself deep in her a final time, he came, spilling white-hot inside her. Euphoria overwhelmed him as all the explosions went off, his vision going black and purple and all the colors of fire and beyond, better than any bomb he'd ever made, better than an omnium explosion- no, a thousand omnium explosions- better than all the nukes ever built going off at once! No doubts about it, finally getting to come in Mei was better than all that! He would tell the whole world!

He became aware that that he was making a sound, more a laughing shriek than a yell, something far more shrill and less dignified than he'd hoped for at that moment, and Mei was actually giggling. But he couldn't particularly bring himself to care, and the giggle was more fond than anything as she soothed his shivering body while he rode out the aftershocks. His hips were still vainly making stuttering thrusts forward until he collapsed on top of her, rasping noisily for air. She whispered more phrases he didn't understand, her fingernails tracing little circles across the expanse of his back, holding him until he finally felt strong enough to move. He rolled onto one side so that they faced one another, wearing a tired but elated grin.

"Hooley dooley…You done a number on me, darl. Claws like a damn wildcat, owch!"

She managed a snort somewhere between her rapid breaths, pointing to the side of her neck. "Well, you bit me! Look!"

"Ain't got no proof that's mine!"

The night air was cooling the sweat on her body, and she pulled herself against the warmth of his chest, listening to the thundering beat of his heart and murmuring a petulant, "Yeah, well…you stink."

"Oi!"

His arms wrapped around her, kissing her damp forehead. She closed her eyes, enjoying what was no doubt going to be only a brief reprieve before his chatter and nervous energy returned. Her glasses and her precious piggie headscarf lay to the side in a tangle of other clothes, momentarily forgotten. No doubt the self-consciousness and wordly troubles would be back to plague her soon. But for now they were both fully sated, lazily enjoying one another on their blanket under the night sky. Junkrat thought back to her mysterious words earlier, and idly wondered what she'd meant.

* * *

 _**Do not care how people look at you. To me, you are perfect._


	18. Chapter 18

She lay there for nearly half an hour, gazing up at the starry expanse of the sky and basking in her afterglow, but eventually things began to feel a bit cold and sticky and Mei was reminded that she was laying in a large damp spot. She pulled away from him despite his grumble of disapproval, groping for her glasses and finding them under his shorts as she placed them atop her nose and the world came back into focus yet again. Sighing, she fished her panties back out of her tights and slid them back on, trying to ignore her wet thighs where Jamison was still leaking out of her. While she was slowly starting to get dressed, Jamie seemed more than content to just lay back with his head resting on both arms, lazing about in an almost irritatingly self-satisfied way, his lips curled up on both ends and his nakedness bared to the empty world.

"Now _that_ was beautiful. Liked that a lot. Got a feeling you liked it a lot too."

She was busy re-tying her headscarf, though she paused to look at him before hiding a smile and tossing her head flippantly, voice overly airy. "Well, I suppose it was okay."

"You're so mean to me, darl!" He finally sat up, arms snaking back around her waist and pressing kisses to her shoulder blades and neck as she was fumbling about with her hair. "Okay? _O-kay_? After all that? With the noises you were making? I didn't even know you had those kinda noises in you. Here, this is what you sounded like…Like, kinda a…Ergh! Eeeeuuuugh!" He scrunched his face and uttered several noises that caused Mei to cringe and push him away.

"What? I do not sound like that! I don't even know what that is!"

"That's you, orgasming like crazy all over me!"

"That sounded nothing like me. Even if I was orgasming like crazy all over you." She pointedly looked away, pretending to study one of her shoes.

"Knew it!" He was immediately back all over her, arms constricting and smushing his cheek into the top of her head happily. "Knew you liked it. Knew you were fair dinkum. We've gotta do this a lot more. Every night! Yeah, every night, gonna make you come."

"Oh my! Every…I mean…Er, well, we can see what happens," She squirmed out of his grasp, his discarded shorts hitting him across the head a moment later. "But we should head back anyway. We have a long way to travel tomorrow."

"Yeah, guess we gotta." He took far less time to get dressed, merely pulling on his shorts and single shoe before he sprang upright, rolling up the blanket before grasping her hand to lead her back through the dark.

She had to take two steps for every one of his and something felt off about his gait, and she realized that he no longer skulked about with his back and shoulders hunched as usual, but towered over her as he stood straight, his bony chest puffed out and hips and arms swinging more than usual.

"I can't believe it, are you actually?…Stop that." She scoffed.

"Oi?"

"You're _strutting_."

"Darl, I just had damn near on the best root I ever had, with the loveliest sheila I've been chasing for I forget how many fuckin' months. All the blokes, no, all the gals too, everyone in the world should be jealous of me right now. Sounds like a skite? Well it is! Too roight, I'm strutting it. Here, look at this." He exaggerated his walk further, setting his shoulders far apart and striding forward with far too much machismo.

Mei buried her face in her palms as she hurried behind him. "I've created a monster."

Junkrat had calmed at least somewhat by the time they reached the safehouse, sneaking into the same screen door they'd left from over an hour earlier. Roadhog's massive form was sprawled across the sagging couch where he was still watching television. Mei merely nodded to him politely, muttered something about how the stars were very nice that evening, and then hurried off into the little bathroom. Junkrat sashayed directly into the middle of the living room, blocked Roadhog's view of the TV, and stood there with his hands on his hips.

"So!" he crowed, "You're probably wondering if we-"

"No."

"It was ace, mate. Think I'm in love. The real kind, like, lovey-dovey, you know? Crikey, think I near broke her back, went at it something fierce. But that was only after she near broke me in two! Yeah, we were both real riled up. Heh, bet you probably heard it all the way from here, eh, Roadie? She's a real screamer, who'da thunk it?"

"That was you." Hog lazily lifted the remote and changed the channel.

"Eh?"

"Mei doesn't sound like a kookaburra getting strangled in a rut. That was you."

"Was it? Yeah, guess that might have been me. Well, who wouldn't be a screamer during that? It's the real deal, Roadie, the real fuckin' deal, makes me feel right clucky. This is _going legit_. Swear it, mate, one day I'm g-AAAAAGH!" His words turned into a shriek as there was a loud beeping noise from the kitchen, and Snowball came flying full-speed into the room, slamming into the lanky junker's side before backing up and ramming him again, making loud angry buzzing sounds.

"I think it's mad at you." Hog observed mildly, masked expression inscrutable as ever.

"Get off, ya fuckin' thing! Oi! I fixed you! That's no way to treat your- OW! Damnit, off! What, you're mad because I shagged your lady? Ow! She's fine! She's fine, she's just in the next room, fuck!" Junkrat was busily trying to beat the enraged drone away as it continued to circle and attack him, finally grabbing it in both hands and holding it at bay even as the bot's half broken visor continued to flash angry eyes at him, waving its new antenna threateningly. "She's just over there, she ain't hurt at all. Go see for yourself, rack off."

Snowball 'BRRRAAAP'ed loudly and gave him one last push for good measure before turning and hovering unsteadily off towards the hallway, leaving Junkrat rubbing his shoulder ruefully and glaring after it.

"Swear if that thing wasn't Mei's favorite bot, I'd scrap it and turn the parts into a goddamn bidet."

Roadhog merely offered a thumbs up as the younger junker went scrambling off into the hall as well, returning his attention to the TV.

Mei had already changed into her nightshirt in the bedroom as there was a thud at the door, then several more thuds that didn't sound quite like proper knocking. Upon opening it, she found Snowball and Junkrat still locked in combat, as the junker was repeatedly punching the bot out of the way while Snowball was whipping its antenna across his head. Frowning severely, she strode forward and separated them. "Stop that! Junkrat, stop hitting! Snowball, that's enough! Be nice, Junkrat is your friend! We like Junkrat."

Snowball buzzed aloud and cuddled itself into Mei's arms, then listed to one side and turned to Junkrat as extremely rude Mandarin characters flashed across its broken screen.

"What's that s'posed to mean!?"

"Snowball! We don't say those things!" Mei gasped, grabbing it out of the air and flicking at its underside switches. "I am so sorry, I think its circuits are still a little screwed up? I still appreciate you fixing it, of course! I didn't even know it knew those words…I think its protection inclinations are just a little exaggerated now. I'll take a proper look at it when we get back." She set the bot on the table as its screen flickered to a pair of happy eyes, then turned off. Shaking her head, she climbed back onto the bed, her legs swinging over the side. "Poor little thing."

"Glad I didn't add those mini missile launchers to it like I'd been planning after all," he said, still giving the drone a baleful side-eye as he sat down on the edge of the bed, the springs creaking under his weight as he leaned over and began to loosen the vice of his makeshift peg leg.

Mei watched him curiously. "Can I ask you what happened to it? I remember you said you'd lost it and had a crutch for a while, in that junkyard?"

"What, the leg? Crutch in a junkyard?" He scratched his patchy head, squinting slightly as he tried to remember. "Did I tell you that one? Yeah, was hiding out in a junkyard, did I tell you about getting the rotgut and shittin' meself? So, there I was in this junkyard-"

She winced. "You…told me that part, yes. But before that. What happened to your leg?"

"Oh. Thought I'd found a gang of good blokes, I did. Ya know, someone who'd take in a rat like me? I was younger then, I think…I don't remember." His gaze blanked slightly, but he merely shrugged and continued, "I dunno, thirteen maybe? Sorta blurry. Anyhow, they had scrappin' turf somewhere north of Junkertown, pretty good spot! Fossick was good enough for food and everything so I wanted in on that, but then they heard about some score that wasn't theirs. They took me along to help check things out, yeah? Send the kid in to take a squizz at things? And my stupid arse went! Turned out the place had been already been mined, they just wanted to see if I could make safe path for 'em. Turns out I couldn't!" He pulled the stump of his thigh from his prosthetic, waving it cheerfully. "Blew it sky-high, saw me leg go spinning off right into the moon! Boom! I'm down on the ground screaming my head off so they send someone in to shut me up, but he gets one right between the eyes instead, and everyone starts shootin' at each other. So while they were busy I stuffed a rag in my jaws to shut up so they think I'm dead, and managed to crawl out and hide in a ditch a bit aways."

Mei was staring at him wide-eyed. "Th-that's terrible! You were hurt, why didn't they help you! Why didn't anyone help you!"

"Turns out, love, they just weren't the nice blokes I'd been hoping for. They blamed me for fucking up their move on the score, and I guess someone found the blood trail and figgured out I was still alive. So, wrapped my leg up best I knew how and hid in that junkyard until I could get a move on again. Wasn't a great time, I'll tell you that…Oi, wanna hear about the arm?"

She was looking genuinely upset for reasons he couldn't quite grasp, but she nodded anyway as he held up his mechanical arm, wiggling and clicking the metal fingers.

"I was eighteen, I know that much. I was making improvements on the RIP-tire prototype. Was real crude back then, not like the beaut I got nowadays. Was doing some tests on the charge cord, kicked up a bit when I activated it during a test drive. Whoops! Cord wrapped around my arm and _splrpt_!" He made a raspberry with his tongue. "Snapped it right in two, nicked it clean off! Threw up, passed out, woke up in a clinic a day or so later. Doc lady said they could have re-attached my arm but they thought a dog had probably grabbed it, had to sneak off cause I couldn't pay. Working on a new arm was trickier than the leg, had to do all sorts of wirings and-"

He found himself being bowled over, falling sideways onto the bed where Mei was suddenly on top of him, wrapping him in a rather impressive bear hug for someone so much smaller. She was looking upset again, sniffling. " _Nǐ ràng wǒ shāngxīn_!"

"Uh?"

"It just makes me sad. How can you have gone through all that, how could you keep going through all that? Just…Why couldn't anyone just be nice to you?"

"Eh, junkers don't do nice."

"But you're nice."

His cheeks and the tips of his ears reddened slightly, sputtering. "Uh! Tch! Naw I ain't! I'm nice to you. Just you. Well, you and maybe a select few clientele. Ya know, just to butter 'em up. Mostly you, though."

"Even when I was being unpleasant?"

"Ha! You think that was the first time someone's been unpleasant to old Junkrat? Probably woulda been more suspicious of you if you tried to be buddy buddy with me, really. Honest, I slept with one fuckin' eye open for days when I first arrived there, I was so convinced Lucio was going to go for my throat one night. Because nobody can be _that_ nice! Asides…for you, I didn't mind chasing you. And I like to think we made up real nice-like after all this, yeah?" He grinned, wiggling his tongue at her lewdly as she pushed him away. He sat back up, painstakingly undoing the clasps and connections of his prosthetic arm, the wrist and fingers going limp as the nerve connectors went dead. He set it aside on the floor with his peg with a metallic clank, tapping his chin for a moment before grinning. "Oi, I'm guessing you probably don't want my dirty shorts in there with ya?"

"Preferably not. Did you bring another pair?"

He was already undoing the zipper, pulling them down and off and flinging them away as well. "Nope! Make room, I'm coming in!"

"Behave." she chided, though she opened up the covers and let him slide in, slipping in to join him a moment later.

"No promises. Ya _do_ things to me, love!"

She clicked off the light, shuffling under the sheets as the familiar grip of his arms immediately moved around her. He was asleep almost immediately, his breathing going deep and steady with her comforting presence close by. She rolled to stare up at the ceiling, going over the horrible stories that he'd told her so matter-of-factly, the trials he had faced just trying to stay alive. Their personal troubles were so different. She had lost almost everyone she had ever cared about…and there was a heavy feeling in her heart when she thought of Jamison, who seemed to feel like he had lost nothing, because nobody had ever cared about him in the first place.

But he was still here, with her now, and slumbering as peacefully as he was able. He clearly trusted her already, despite how slowly she'd warmed to him. But, it was like he'd said, 'I didn't mind chasing you'. To him, it was all worth it. He'd had a thousand days of trouble and suffering, and was still happy just to meet someone like her.

She hoped she could live up to it.

* * *

Mei awoke before the sunrise. The light filtering through the cloudy windows was still more pink than yellow, dust motes fluttering prettily through the air as she blearily reached for her glasses. But once again, her arms were pinned, and she sighed as she went to start the process of untangling herself from Junkrat's sleepy grasp yet again. Her movements awakened him, and he protested by pulling her back against his larger body, nuzzling his pointed nose into her hair.

"Sun ain't even up yet…Go back t'sleep." He grumbled.

"It'll be up soon. Back in China there are lots of sayings about how good it is to wake up early."

"Well we're in Oz, and proper Aussies sleep until noon," he said, going to drape his weight across her and crush her back into the bed. "I'll teach ya."

She started to retort, but paused as he shifted and she felt something hard pressing against the back of her leg. With a wicked little smile, she arched her spine, dipping down and then up as his half-hard length slid into the divot between her thighs. The little hiss of breath behind her told her the intended reaction had hit home as she folded her arms over his, keeping him in place as she began to very slowly grind backward. "But then you'll miss out on the most beautiful part of the day. I love mornings."

"Ohhh…ya know, never thought of it like that. M-might give mornings a chance," He changed his tune quickly, glad to be bereft of his shorts as he hardened further, the head of his cock rubbing against the cotton fabric of her panties. His blood was already stirring despite the early hour as he hooked his elbow over Mei's ribs and shuffled her nightshirt up around her waist, withdrawing his single hand to slither greedily down her back, fingertips snagging the elastic of her underwear and pulling them downward as much as he could, leaving them strung about her knees like a vice as he pressed up against her from behind.

He slid into the space between her thighs, rubbing against the soft dampness of her slit, a gentle back and forth as he felt her wetness grow; licking his lips as he pulled back just enough where he could watch, see where they would be joined yet again where her slickened cunt was wet enough to beckon him, welcoming him in…But when he went to push inside her, he felt her posture stiffen and she pulled away with a little muffled whine, and he could tell it had hurt. He jerked his hips as if he'd burnt her, jolting away. Any trace of drowsiness left him as he hurried to tighten his embrace, kissing at her jaw and neck and anywhere he could reach, wishing he still had his other hand to help soothe any pain he might have caused.

"Didn't mean to!"

"No, no! I-I think I might have overdone it a little last night is all," she whispered sheepishly, rolling her thighs together as the slight burn faded away. "I didn't know I'd be so sore, sorry. I'm sorry."

He looked relieved as she recovered quickly enough, unable to stifle one of his shrill giggles. "Aw, love, didn't mean to smash you that hard. Want me t'kiss it better? Wanna rest?"

She shook her head resolutely and glanced back, watching his fuzzy brows perk slightly when she pushed back to his chest. "No, I'm still going to show you how nice mornings are. We're still going to. Here, let me just…try this?"

She lined her hips back up with his as she closed her thighs back around his still-hard member, feeling it prod hesitantly into the slippery space between her legs. She reached down to cradle him with a gentle brush of her fingers, pressing him up against her wet entrance and moving slowly, using him to help spread her own moisture as she kept her thighs closed together. Jamie's hesitation did not take long to dissipate as he took hold of her hip once more, thrusting into the soft wet gap.

The friction was certainly nice enough, his motions punctuated by wet sounds every time he pushed in. "Squeeze 'em like that, darl- Yeah, real tight. Nnh, fuck…"

She was making those little noises again, the kind that drove him crazy- or crazier than usual, really- and was cupping her hand to guide him, angling the path of his thrusts to curve upward, grinding against her clit as her fingertips tickled him in the best way. He curled his long spine to keep her flush against him, his remaining hand invading the bottom of her nightshirt to grasp onto one of her breasts and kneading happily at the soft flesh as it overflowed his palm. His lips found the bruised bite mark he'd left on her shoulder, lathing his tongue across it almost in a comforting way even as he continued to pound forward. It might not have been as sweet as her cunt that he'd had just hours earlier, but he was still as thirsty for Mei's attentions as ever and he groaned happily at the feel. He would be more than happy to fuck her like this too.

He came first without really meaning to, hot sticky strands coating the insides of her thighs and filling her hand, and he laughed raucously before gritting his teeth and gasping, tongue lolling as he wheezed against her neck. He took only a moment to recover, Mei still grinding wantingly against him as he kept moving his hips, slipping his long fingers down her body until they found the sensitive little nub of flesh at her front, wetting his fingertips with his own cum as he started to rub her in tantalizing little circles.

He soon had her writhing and whimpering, and when her back finally arched and she muffled her cry with her nearby pillow, it took all his willpower to make himself withdraw. She was sore, after all, and she'd promised that these would not be their only days together. He planned on fucking her many, many more times after this. They could try everything together; all the positions he'd seen drawn in those weird sex books he'd stolen over the years, or the things other junkers had told him about and he wasn't quite sure were real or not, or maybe she had her own arsenal of Chinese sex traditions he didn't know about, but he would find out, and it would be great because it would be with her. Maybe he'd tell her that later, if he could remember, just to see her blush.

For now she seemed relaxed and happy and he felt much the same, rolling onto his back and pulling her up against his side. He always felt nice and empty after he came. The buzzing in his head had stopped, his remaining limbs felt languid instead of itchy and the phantom pains were fully gone, and for at least a few minutes he could feel downright serene before it all came back again.

Mei lay tracing a finger across the bones of his ribs, nestled in the crook of his elbow and enjoying the relative silence. When she felt the beginnings of him fidgeting again, she rested her chin on his chest and grinned up at him smugly. "The sun's up now. And you're awake. Time to get up."

He groaned, flinging the stump of his arm up over his eyes. "You play dirty, love, but I ain't gonna complain. This time. Much."

She planted a kiss to his cheek, then bounded out of bed and went to grab his shorts and mechanical limbs, helping to prepare the still groggy junker for the day before dressing herself. Out in the rest of the house, she heard the heavy form of Roadhog already up and about. They really would need to get on the road sooner than later. Overwatch would be waiting for them, and despite the tangle of feelings she still had about returning to base, she had always known that staying here was never an option. She was sick, and she knew her companions were sick, and she needed to return to her friends and her duties sooner than later. And by now she was more than eager to just be leaving this radiation-blasted desert by any means necessary.

Of course, this time she'd be returning with one of the Australian criminals as…what she guessed was her _tiánxīn_ , or boyfriend, maybe? Even as on a basic level, Junkrat was not the easiest person to define, and a relationship with him was even less so. But she could worry about putting labels on things like that later. After everything he'd been through in his life, he deserved some happiness. And so did she.


	19. Chapter 19

" _Zǎoshang hǎo_! Good morning, Roadhog," Mei greeted the enormous man cheerfully, tossing her already-packed bag into the pile in the hallway.

Roadhog lifted one hand in response before a little movement of his masked head indicated he was looking past her, at the lanky figure rising up behind her.

"Hehehe, yeah, we had a good morning, all roight," Junkrat said, leering his toothy grin as he reached out to goose her bottom. "Real good."

Mei's face reddened on cue, and he grinned all the harder when he saw the tips of her ears change color. She turned and smacked the back of his hand with a scowl. "Stop that," she said, "I know what you're doing, trying to embarrass me. Huài dàn."

After spending more time with the junkers, Mei could read Roadhog a little better now. Not on the level of Junkrat, of course, who could carry on hours worth of one-sided conversations with little more than an occasional grunt or wrinkle of the forehead as responses; but now she could spot subtle little movements of his facial muscles, little tics and tells that spoke of the man behind the mask…And right now, he was rolling his eyes at them both.

"Sorry!" she called after him, as he grumbled under his breath and ambled off back into the kitchen. She shot Junkrat a little dirty look as she adjusted her glasses, but he looked all the more gleeful for it, especially when she lifted a finger and shook it at him sternly. "Are we going to have to talk about this? Don't make Mr. Roadhog uncomfortable."

"Lovey, I think if we're talking levels of 'uncomfortable' what Roadie and me's had to deal with, hearing us going at it is pretty damn low on the charts."

"Well maybe if you weren't so loud…"

Junkrat entwined his arms around her once more, his voice going high-pitched and wavering in an incredibly poor falsetto version of Mei's accent. "My name's Mei, I don't want nobody to know I'm a moaner, not even when I'm getting it good, don't want anybody to hear me going 'ooooooh! Oooh Junkrat! _Oooooh yeees, mmmmhh_ '!"

"Oh my gosh! Stop!" she sputtered, shoving at his chest before trying to cover his mouth with both hands, as if to stifle his lewd noises by force.

"Ooooohhhh Junkrat! Oooh, I'm gonna-OW!" he cried a little louder, interrupted suddenly as there was a cracking noise and he was suddenly bulled to the side when Snowball appeared from nowhere and slammed into his shoulder again, smacking its antenna across his head once more. "Ow! Son of a bitch bot, I know where you sleep!"

Mei separated them once more, pulling the enraged drone into her arms and holding it away to protect it from the irate junker, looking more than a little exasperated. "You two stop it, both of you! I swear I'm just going to leave you both here and just go to the drop point with Roadhog. We're meeting back up with the others in just a few hours and we'll have to give our official reports, can we at least try to be a little more professional? I'm already going to have…a lot to deal with." She wrinkled her nose unhappily. "Dr. Ziegler is going to want to see us immediately, I know. And then I…I really need to apologize to Winston. I still need to set up a few things now that we have the eco-monitor online, once I get back to my equipment, not to mention all the damage costs and paperwork…"

Snowball uttered a rather unpleasant mechanical scraping noise that she guessed was supposed to be sympathetic, its visor lights still flickering and broken as it flashed happy emoticon eyes up at her. She offered it a little smile, patting its dented body.

Junkrat ruefully rubbed at the red mark across his temple where the malfunctioning weather drone had managed to strike him. "Professional is one of my many middle names, darl. I mean…if they ask me right out, I'm obliged to tell 'em, right? Legally, officially, to make sure that I ain't Stockholming you too bad? Because I got a feeling that monkey didn't take too kindly to it at all, and he wasn't fond of us in the first place. So they're gonna strap me to a chair and grill me about how I done you?"

"That is not how it would go, even if they did broach that subject," she replied. "I am just going to sit down with Winston and explain everything, how things happened and how it went so out of control. And then if Dr. Ziegler does want to approach a more…psychiatric angle on things, I will be more than happy to handle that as well. You haven't done anything wrong, Jamison. Nobody has. Don't worry, we just need to focus on the extraction now."

Junkrat jabbed an oil-stained thumb behind him. "Well, Roadie says he's got the Hog running and ready to roll! Didn't have much to do while you were sleepin' at first, so we sorted this place's scrap heap and whipped something up, with the help of yours truly of course. Engine's still janky and it don't sound right, drives Hog right up a wall, but it should hold us and all the weapons. Speakin' of!"

She blinked as Roadhog's heavy footsteps approached once more, this time holding a simple pulse pistol that looked comically tiny in his enormous hand, pinched almost delicately between two fingers. Mei wrinkled her nose as he carefully dropped it out into her outstretched palm. The blank lenses peered down at her as he rumbled a low, "Do you know how to u-"

"I know how to shoot," she said a little more sharply than she meant, and bit her lip. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap. I just haven't had to use a gun in a very, very long time. It was part of our training back in the earlier days of Overwatch…The, erm, legitimate one. Commander Morrison always said I hesitated too much and my reaction times were slow but complimented my form on headshots. I still prefer my cryo-gun. It's been years since I've had to shoot anything else."

"For what it's worth, darl," Junkrat said helpfully, "It always gave me a half-chub whenever I saw you sink an icicle into someone's front lobe. Even mine, sometimes, durin' the training."

"Jamison, that's…actually _really_ weird..."

"Anyways eh, I always say aiming's overrated." He gestured to his frag launcher sitting by the door, along with a veritable arsenal of grenades and mines stacked atop each other. "Been working on that boom pile for days now, should see us through!"

"Through what? What are you expecting to happen?"

Roadhog lightly patted the enormous metal hook on his sagging belt. "Told you you don't bring dropships inland. Seen people try anyway. Sand and winds give away the stealth field, and there's always someone on the lookout for anyone stupid enough to give it a go."

Mei swallowed unsurely, looking down at the little pistol. The junkers had been adamant on that point when she'd first brought it up months ago, had even laughed at her for the very idea. She had the feeling that both of them had partaken in attacks against inland expeditions before, and no doubt that the fighting between junkers and crew would be absolutely vicious in the unending search for scrap and money. She turned to them with a frown, straightening her glasses. "Do you think it will be that bad? Can you…tell the other junkers to stop, maybe?"

Both junkers immediately dissolved into outrageous fits of laughter, Hog's enormous belly shaking mightily and the filters of his pig mask barely muffling the booming thunder of his voice, and the more vivacious Junkrat literally fell onto the floor, holding his ribs and shrilling giggles so hard that he nearly started hyperventilating. Even trusty Snowball seemed to be triggered by their glee, shaking back and forth and uttering rapid buzzing sounds as if to laugh with them. Mei frowned severely at them all and folded her arms as she leaned back, clenching her jaw and half-lidding her eyes, her expression long-suffering as she waited for it to be over.

Roadhog recovered first, snorting a gulp of air and shaking his head with a simple, "No."

Junkrat remained sprawled on the floor near her feet, choking and wiping a tear from the corner of one eye with a dirty finger, leaving a smear of black on his cheek instead. "Ask 'em to stop, Roadie! Why didn't we ever think of that before! Oooh, near busted me gut on that one, lovey. Yeah, junkers ain't exactly unified, and me and the pig man there ain't exactly popular blokes with any of 'em nowadays. Fuck me, even Tilda was a sook compared to the big nasties back in Junkertown."

"Okay, I get it, it wasn't a bright question," Mei grumbled. "What can we do?"

"Do? Ain't nothing to do about it. Your monkey was fuckin' insistant on sending a rescue ship, we just got to reach it before it gets arse-blasted roight outta the sky and they chop it up for parts, along with whatever fuckin' omnic pals they're stupid enough to send with." he spat bitterly, wrinkling his nose at the mere mention of Overwatch's robot agents.

She gave him a hard look, choosing her next words carefully. "I doubt Winston would send an omnic on this…particular mission. But I don't think we can be picky if he does. We need help. From anyone. Even the bots, if they do show up, so just…be prepared, in case."

Roadhog gave a dangerous low rumble, and Junkrat looked ready to answer with something he'd probably have regretted later before making himself turn away.

The contention between the junkers and the omnics had caused no small amount of trouble at first. The addition of omnics to the team had been hotly debated even before their arrival, despite their only representatives being arguably the most peace-loving specimens on the entire team. Zarya and Torbjorn made their distaste of the situation clear, but military discipline bade them both keep it in check other than the occasional insult or thinly veiled threat. Roadhog and Junkrat had no such qualms about team cohesion, and only the presence of Genji and the others had kept them both from outright destroying Zenyatta on sight, even while the robotic monk plead for a non-violent compromise. There had also been an issue with Junkrat attempting to eat Bastion's pet bird, which had ended with the junker's peg leg shot to pieces as both parties fled in opposite directions. To say that there was 'peace' between them even now would have hardly been accurate.

She had been firmly on Zenyatta and Bastion's side, but had been too intimidated by Roadhog to ever speak up against him, and Junkrat had never seemed very affected by her accusations of being a bully and omnic-hater. And though she hated to admit it, even though she still did not agree with them and probably never could…she understood their reasons a little better now. The wasteland did things to a person, twisted them, warped and poisoned them as it sought to kill them like it had killed everything else here. It could make even a good person know what hate was, fill them with bitterness and violence. And she had only experienced it for a few weeks. She could not imagine spending a lifetime here, or growing up here, knowing that every moment of pain or hardship had been caused by one direct source.

She decided not to pursue that particular topic any further, making a mental note to possibly try and tackle that issue somewhere down the line when things were a little less dire. Besides, this time it would be other junkers, not bots, that they had to worry about. She carefully tucked the little pistol into her belt, though its very presence still felt a little alien to her compared to the comforting weight of her freeze gun. But with her cryo-liquid tank empty and broken miles upon miles away in the wreckage of the red zone, the gun would be her only real defense…

Well, her first line of defense was actually the junkers, and they both looked downright eager for a fight. Junkrat had promptly forgotten their near-argument over the omnics, and was happily adding another box of grenades to the pile, counting them under his breath. Roadhog was palming the handle of his hook in a way that looked far too erotic for Mei's liking, so she turned away and distracted herself with the jugs of water, picking up two of the smaller ones and pushing open the screen door. The Hog was waiting just outside, freshly repaired and with one of Junkrat's crazy faces newly painted on the dented sidecar.

The others joined her, packing in and tying on as Hog tested its weight before finally giving them both a thumbs up.

Mei gave the sidecar a worried look, almost filled to the brim with rattling grenades and mines all loosely crammed inside, with barely enough room for even Junkrat's scrawny legs, much less her own. The lanky junker sniffed at one of his frags before shrugging and merely tossing it inside as well, clattering loudly and making her jump. "Um, Jamison, are you entirely sure they're all secure and safe like that?"

"Don't you worry your beautiful head, Mei darl, those ain't going off until I want 'em to…Or unless we crash. Oi! Hog, mate! Don't crash or we're all going up, I got enough payload here to cause the second apocalypse!"

Hog gave him another thumbs up and Mei uttered a resigned sigh.

Carrying nothing more than weapons, some fuel, and water, Roadhog mounted his bike and Junkrat vaulted into place in the sidecar, slithering into place like he'd done a thousand times before before looking to the little climatologist standing awkwardly nearby. He batted both scraggly brows, grinning widely and patting his lap with a few lewd smacks of his palm, wiggling slightly. "Sorry, ain't no room left except right here! Come on, get comfy!"

She gave him a rather flat look, but took his hand as he reached out, scooting in over the side and landing with her elbows clanging against a stack of mines. She straightened quickly, scrambling onto his lap and trying to get as small as possible, clearly disliking being surrounded by hundreds of active explosive devices on all sides. Snowball circled around them before wedging itself into a tiny space still left under the sidecar's lid, offering Mei a comforting pair of happy emotive eyes. It seemed the little bot was just as eager to get going as the rest of them.

Mei glanced around her. "…Seatbelts?"

Both junkers began laughing again. Junkrat whomped the side of the car with a loud clang, signaling Roadhog, and with a kick of his armored boot and the rattling roar of the Hog's new engine, they were off.

* * *

She had ridden briefly in the motorcycle during the attack of Tilda's gang, when she and Roadhog had ambushed them from the side. But it had been the first time she'd ever ridden in a an open vehicle with actual, antiquated wheels and engines like this one. The van had been mostly sheltered, if not a bit bumpy. But here, she was unused to the strange feeling of the physical road beneath them, bumping and rattling and vibrating through her bones. Some men, like Roadhog, were never content unless they felt the roar of an engine and a highway beneath their wheels. But Mei could swear she felt every pebble or crack they ran over, shooting straight through her spine as she tried to keep herself steady, her face turning a light shade of gray-green.

The ride was having a very different effect on the other passenger sitting beneath her, and when she felt something jab into her rear, she absent-mindedly went to remove it, thinking one of the pieces of scrap metal or grenade pins had gone astray. What her fingers found was neither of those things, and she gave Junkrat a scandalized look, adjusting herself atop his lap primly, having to yell over the noise of the engine. "Jamison! Really!?"

"What! It's the vibrations!"

"Well, _stop_!"

"Can't help it! I'm just an average bloke what's vibrating all around with you on my lap, what do you expect! Ain't you feelin' it too? Thought sheilas loved vibratin' things!"

"Don't say things like that! And I'm feeling…sick?"

"Aw, love. Well, try not to chunder, can't have your liquid lunch gumming up the frags if we need 'em. Here, if ya need to, just lean out over the side and then you can yak or piss or whatever and it's gone in the wind, that's what I do!"

Mei turned another shade of green and hid her face in both hands. This rescue couldn't come soon enough.

The Hog continued thundering along the road, clouds of red dust billowing behind them. Mei tried to distract herself with the scenery, though there was not much to look at. The yellow zone was not as bereft of life as the red zone, but there was little to see beyond red rocks and dirt, scrubby, thorny desert brush, and the very occasional struggling tree. She did spot a number of lizards, sunning themselves atop the stones or slithering about in the shade, and once Junkrat tapped her shoulder to point out a lone kangaroo that was standing and glaring at them from the side of the road. It did not look like the friendly roo she had once pet at a wildlife zoo. This one was warped by radiation and was missing patches of its hair, and had what looked like an extra leg growing and dangling from its belly, its toes warped and claws curled. Mei could swear it was giving them a rude gesture as they passed it by. It seemed like the people of Australia were hardly the only things suffering in this land.

They drove on for several hours, pausing only to top off from their gas can and a bathroom break, where Mei quietly puked the remains of last night's dinner into a bush while Junkrat awkwardly patted her back and offered her water. Then it was squeezing back into that awful sidecar and back atop his lap. At least he wasn't trying to get handsy with her anymore while she tried to rest, instead taking a pair of binoculars and peering at the oncoming horizon as they rode onward. Occasionally he'd giggle or frown at something he saw, when he suddenly began banging on the side of the cart, startling Mei and causing Roadhog to slow to a stop as the engine idled.

"Oi oi oi! I see somethin', real far off! Mei, scoot?" He awkwardly maneuvered out from under her, squishing her to one side as he struggled to stand. His immense height towered above her as he straightened his long spine, stretching upward as he clicked at the focus buttons on the old lenses. "Ohhhh, I think that might be them. Welp, looks like that's a fair bad bit of luck there! They've already been spotted, looks like they got a crowd!"

"What!" Mei pushed at him to stand as well, nearly causing them both to fall over as she snatched the binoculars and peered through them. It took her a moment to find what he had even been talking about. It was incredibly far off still, but with the higher-powered focus, she could see the shape of MV-261 Orca, Overwatch's main dropship. Its stealth field had apparently been dropped, and even as she watched, she could see little flashes of yellow light and clouds of black smoke puffing silent around it…explosions, hitting it from below. The rocks on the horizon obscured whatever was on the ground, but judging by the sheer amount of little cloud puffs, the Orca was already taking a beating. "R-Roadhog! Can we go a little faster please! I think they're under attack, and they're not even near the meeting point yet!"

Junkrat pulled her back down into the cart as Roadhog pressed the throttle, wheels spinning in the dirt as they took off. The wind whistled in her ears, holding her scarf onto her head as sand pelted her glasses, gnawing at her bottom lip. Her companions had not been kidding about not taking dropships inland. She never should have lost her temper with Winston and cut him off. She should have kept communications up while she still had them, should have warned them about taking something smaller, or maybe they should have given them a few more days to take a roller after them, or maybe they should never have sent a rescue at all. Worse yet, they had no equipment to even try and establish communication with the ship, and were going in blind. The red storms were avoidable now, with the eco-monitor keeping a watchful eye on things. The outback's vicious inhabitants, less so.

She felt Junkrat tense under her, and almost scolded him again before she heard him growl suddenly, one arm encircling covetously around her. She turned and saw that they were no longer alone. Further away, on both sides of them, were the telltale smoky red trails of other vehicles traveling through the dust. One was an old wheeled roller like theirs, an ancient truck armored with metal plates and a large harpoon-like gun mounted on its back, the other a more modern levitating utility vehicle. Both were manned by other junkers. The hover-jeep veered a little closer to them, and one of the men in the back lifted his gun and gave a whoop of delight.

Junkrat flashed his wide smile and lifted his frag launcher in reply. As far as anyone knew, they were just another pack of junkers who had heard about the ship that been stupid enough to fly over outback territory…Years ago, they would have been just that, just two more men heading to help rip apart whatever they thought they could get, their blood boiling as they readied for a fight. Now he was readying for a fight, but to protect that very dropship. Not that he particularly cared for the Orca or whatever combatants they'd sent along inside it, but if Mei was sick and that ship was her hope of getting better, he'd blow up every other junker in the whole desert if it meant getting her on board and out of there. She had shrunk back against his chest, looking up with an unsure expression as the other men drove nearer. He squeezed her side, his other hand still on the trigger of his gun just in case. Roadhog was similarly wary, occasionally glancing from side to side to mark their progress. They couldn't afford to start a battle now, even if it would thin their numbers a bit. They simply drove on, as other dust clouds appeared on the horizon…more junkers racing to reach their gruesome prize.

The ship itself was still struggling in the air, becoming more visible the closer they got. It was still miles out from the agreed meeting point. The hull was already showing signs of damage, as the remaining defense turrets struggled to keep their attackers at bay. Even as Mei watched, there was a faint booming noise from the rocks, and a volley of rockets launched from below, striking the bottom of the ship as another turret came loose and fell to the ground in flames. Javelins peppered the Orca's underbelly, some still attached to cords and chains, slowing and weighing it down. The whole ship was starting to list dangerously to one side, and Mei gave a little cry of alarm as she stood up in the sidecar, pointing ahead.

"H-hurry! We have to hurry! I-I think it's going down!"


	20. Chapter 20

The scene grew more chaotic the closer they got. There was the smell of oxidizing metal and circuitry all around them, acrid black smoke poisoning the air from things that were never supposed to be burned. It did nothing to dissuade the horde of junkers. Large chunks of hull and sentry turrets had already been cracked loose in the initial attack, and each chunk of ruin was swarming with men and women, ripping away whatever they thought could be scavenged or trying to fight whoever else got too close to their claims. There were also several bodies laying on either side of the road, but they lay mostly forgotten, save for an occasional figure scavenging the parts from them as well. Mei tried to see if the corpses were anyone from Overwatch, but they seemed to be junkers, taken out by the pulse turrets or (judging by one of the more decapitated ones) flying metal debris.

She had never seen anything like this. For some reason they reminded her of insects, as though someone had foolishly disturbed an ant's nest or a hornet's hive. The junkers had no organization at all and attacked quickly, en masse, and without mercy. They swarmed over scrap like it was fresh meat. And the people around them were merely the stragglers, with the main pack still dogging the heels of the Orca ship as it steadily lost altitude. Roadhog blew past them, engine still roaring and tires kicking up red dust behind them.

"Crikey, the whole fuckin' outback's showed up for this one!" Junkrat exclaimed, his grenade launcher at the ready as they passed by two junkers fighting viciously over a downed turret gun. "Bet there's more on the way, too! Oi, I think I know that guy!" He pointed at the either unconscious or dead figure of another male junker on the ground as they sped by. "Well, I never liked him anyway."

They rounded the bend of the shallow canyons, and were greeted with the almost impressive sight of the junkers in full force. Chaos was reigning. There were hundreds of them, jockeying for position as they pressed their attack. The vehicles they had cobbled together were less cars or trucks than they were monstrosities of war. Missile launchers had been tacked onto the beds of lorries and hover-cars carried men bristling with weapons, while jeeps equipped with spiked javelins and harpoons, laden with chains and ropes, dragged themselves in the sand in an attempt to hobble their prey. There were shields and spikes in abundance, war paint and decals and racing stripes, and a disturbing amount of effigies, strapped across them in a mish-mash of of leather straps and feathers and bones, animal and human alike. It was impressively tribal.

The Orca was doing an adequate job of defending itself from the onslaught, at least, but it wouldn't last. Turrets were firing from its bottom and shield generators struggled to keep up with the damage, but they could do little about the metal harpoons that were already scattered in its metal underbelly, dragging the attached junker vehicles along or entire sections of its metal armor coming loose and crashing to ground, to immediately be overrun and infested with the scrap hunters.

Mei had no idea what to do. The other junkers were ignoring them as simply one amongst their number for now, but she had no way to hail the ship or let them know she was even here. Roadhog was wisely keeping them a safe distance away, enough to pursue but avoiding the explosions and gunfire as he weaved in and out of the other pursuit vehicles. They would be arriving at the designated meeting spot soon, and it seemed like there might be one chance and one chance only to get aboard.

They followed until the Orca slowed and came to a stop, turning as abruptly as the immense ship was able, its back to the cliffs as it turned to face the junker hordes. There was the whirring clank of more turrets getting into position, and then a shimmer as its shields refreshed and a door to its cargo bay opened. Mei thrust one arm forward, "There! There, they're waiting for us! Let's go!"

It should have been simple. Get to the ship, get picked up by Overwatch agents and brought aboard. But every other junker in the vicinity had seen the same door open, and they surged forward as if a living wave, and the motorcycle was quickly crowded out by the larger vehicles all around it. Roadhog rumbled a low curse, then nodded down to his partner, who was grinning and starting to vibrate in his seat. "Rat. Clear 'em."

This time, Mei made no move to stop them, one hand on her pistol as she huddled into the side of the sidecar, taking hold of Junkrat's leg to help steady him as he reared up with his frag launcher at the ready, giggling wildly. "Never thought you'd ask, mate!"

Mei shut her eyes as there were several large booms and waves of heat from nearby, with the shrieking of both metal and people deafening in her ears, nearly drowning out Junkrat's maniacal laughter. The motorcycle started moving again. Junkrat kept firing, grenades flying amongst the clouds of choking dust and embers, tongue waving from his mouth and practically slavering amongst the chaos.

The motorcycle came to an abrupt stop as it hit something in front of them, the entire thing jolting back and then forward, Mei having to wrap both arms around Junkrat's legs to keep him from going flying as he landed with a crash atop her in the sidecar. Something rose from the smoke in front of them, a cobbled-together metal monstrosity lifting up on two legs, machine-gun arms clacking noisily, and its junker pilot grinning at them from inside its metal control cage.

"Aw fuck me, I hate fightin' mechs," Junkrat groaned, before grabbing onto Mei and launching both of them out of the sidecar, nearly dropping her as he ducked and rolled to the side, narrowly missing a rain of machine-gun fire at his ankles. They both landed in the dirt, scrambling upright on either side of the mech as it turned to face Roadhog, who was dismounting his motorcycle and angrily pulling his gun.

"Get to the ship!" Mei called to them both, pulling her pistol and going to dash forward. The mech thrust one arm out to block her, but there was another boom and it fell slightly to one side, as one of Junkrat's sticky mines hit its mark. She made a move to try and duck under it, but the barrel-guns of its arm swung and effectively clotheslined her across the chest, sending her flying back where she'd come from and sliding painfully on the rocky ground. It opened fire and she tried to roll, but a round of bullets sprayed her gut, and she screamed as she felt something tear open and start bleeding, pressing her sticky shirt over the ragged wound even as Junkrat bellowed in anger and positioned himself in front of her, fumbling to reload his grenades.

" _Kkeojyeo! Geim-eul hamyeon igyeoyaji!_ "

Something very large and pink and vaguely rabbit-shaped landed with a crash of metal against metal, as 's MEKA slammed full-force into the junker mech. The other mech might have been larger, but it was far from nimble, struggling to even turn as the MEKA practically danced around him, bullets flying as its boosters sent it in agile dodging motions to and fro. From inside its protective pilot shield, blew a bubble with her gum and popped it impatiently, finally jamming both guns into the other mech's core and firing, sending the whole thing crashing down as the junker inside ejected free and went scrambling.

"Aw yeah! That makes me four-time reigning Australia mech-fighting champion! GG E-Z!" She struck a pose, both metal arms punching forward dramatically, before turning to face them. "Jamie! I thought I saw your weird hair out here!"

"Oi, my hair ain't weird!…Okay, it's kinda weird," Junkrat grumbled. "Give us a lift, won't ya? Mei's hurt and don't have any more ice left."

"Sorry, not that kind of MEKA! And you'd be shot right off, I've never seen so many people here to fight! I'll radio the others to let them know you're coming in!" There was the rattle of more gunfire as more pulse rounds slammed into the MEKA's side, causing her to shriek within. " _Apa!_ Oh, you're in for it now!" With that, her boosters flared white-blue and she went careening off back into the melee.

Junkrat scratched at his self-admittedly weird hair. "Well, she's clearin' a path at least! You all right, love? Can y'walk?"

Mei took his hand, hauling herself upright. "I-I think so? Oh! Jamie, you're bleeding too!"

He blinked in apparent surprise, looking to where a hole in his arm was also streaming liquid red. "Oh! Hey, guess I am! Eh, she'll be right, I can still shoot. Oi, let's grab Roadie and- Aw shite, we got company."

Roadhog had seemed to have gotten into an entirely different kind of trouble, and he and the bike were surrounded by a group of scavengers. Mei lifted her pistol, but to her surprise, the enormous junker was almost unmoving, and though the people around him milled about and bristled their weapons, none of them had made an actual move to attack him yet.

"That ain't him. It's someone pretending to be him," She heard one insist.

"Who the fuck'd pretend to be him?"

"Isn't he the one who killed DogEater's entire gang?"

"That was him? Ripped t'fucking pieces…"

"Yeah. That's the real Roadhog, nobody wears a mask like that except Roadhog. Uh…you take 'im first, I'll go behind..."

"You take 'im. I ain't fucking with the pig man," a smaller man replied, backing into a retreat.

Roadhog said nothing, as usual. His wheezing breath remained steady, rattling in and out past the mask's filters, blank lenses still set upon the junkers facing him. Naturally reluctant to face a well-known bruiser that was over seven feet of fat, muscle, and silent rage, the men jostled and pushed at one another, none of them wanting to be the one to initiate combat and make themselves his target. And when Roadhog slowly lifted his immense hook, the metal catching the sunlight and glinting sharply, the enemy junkers seemed to reach their limit and suddenly and quickly dispersed into all directions, trying to find easier targets.

"Hhm…" Roadhog said.

"Knew there was a reason I kept you around, mate," Junkrat grinned. "Besides your winnin' personality."

"Mm."

The trio continued to struggle forward amongst the chaos, trying to maneuver through. She thought she could see occasional glimpses of other agents from time to time…Pharah's rockets occasionally flared in the sky, and 's gaudy pink made for an almost obnoxious moving target as she saw it diving to and fro amongst the red and brown dust of the junkers around her. And despite all the screaming and blasting, she definitely heard Reinhardt's booming voice, challenging all and sundry to come and face him.

The junkers were fighting each other almost as much as their targets, and she nearly lost sight of her companions several times, sometimes firing off warning shots at those who saw her much tinier size and obvious wounds as an opportunity. But even her bodyguards' gigantism couldn't hold all of them off, and more than once both Junkrat and Roadhog were pulled away from her at once to try and keep the others at bay. She continued to try and struggle through, darting into and then out of a brawling group of junkers who were getting closer and closer to the dropship, when she saw a familiar flash of red, white, and blue fabric. Her expression lit up, immediately dashing towards it.

Soldier 76 was holding off a crowd of foes at once, pulse rifle rattling as he stood in front of the Orca's open doors. The junkers were getting bolder and bolder as minutes went by, to the point where he was physically having to push them back at times as the bolder ones tried to rush him. He had been forced into a slow but steady retreat, and could barely pause to even reload without retaliation. And he was making another attempt to reload when one of the junkers rushed him yet again. This one was a surprisingly tiny woman, covered in blood and dust and very faintly yelling "76! 76 it's me!" over the din as she made a beeline towards him.

He lunged forward before she could properly react, launching one strike directly into her sternum. He heard her words cut off and she staggered, the wind knocked out of her, and he went to finish the job, his arm around her throat and swinging her up into the air before going to smash her down into the ground so he could take the shot...

Mei barely managed to let out a strangled cry of "C-Commander Morrison!"

He stopped immediately, almost freezing mid-air. The back of her head slammed audibly into the ground and she uttered a little noise of pain that sounded familiar, her glasses clattering onto the ground beside her and one of the lenses cracking…Since when did junkers wear glasses like that? He kept his forearm in her throat, her chin pressed upward and pinned, but paused to actually look at her. She looked different now. Her face was thinner and her cheekbones looked more hollowed out. Her eyes were shadowed and tired and squinted to see without her eyewear. She wore a headscarf with a familiar little piggy face on it, but there was precious little hair beneath it. No wonder he'd mistaken her at first glance, but it was definitely…

"Mei?" he asked in a bewildered tone, easing his arm off her neck. "Is that-"

"Get offa her, you senile old cunt!"

Junkrat hit them both like an incoming freight train, his entire gangly mass hitting Soldier dead-center and ripping him from atop Mei like a charging bull. She landed sprawled on her back, the air still knocked out of her. Junkrat had dragged his stunned target some feet away, his fists clenched in the namesake 76 jacket, and went to slam Soldier rather brutally into the ground several times, spitting curses and nearly foaming at the mouth. But Soldier 76 was a seasoned veteran who had dealt with more than an enraged junker in his time. He recovered and he retaliated, and the two quickly became a mess of wrestling limbs and jabbing fists as they fought, and their guns were entirely too close by for comfort.

Mei's head spun as she righted herself, sitting up and trying to yell at them. Her breath came out as a pathetic wheeze, her lungs still emptied as she inhaled and tried again, holding her chest. She tried to call out, trying to identify herself and order Junkrat and Soldier off each other, but only a few words made it out and it sounded more like she was trying to scold a misbehaving dog. "Jamie!…No! Down!"

To her surprise, it worked. Junkrat managed to kick Soldier off of him, jamming a boot into the other man's belly as he scrambled out of the melee, hurrying back to Mei's side and helping her upright. Soldier stood as well, holding his gun warily at ease as he faced them both. "Mei-Ling? And…Agent Junkrat. Hm." His gravelly voice showed a hint of clear displeasure. "Didn't see that it was you."

"Who the bloody fuck else would it be!" Junkrat sneered, fingering the trigger of his grenade launcher even as Mei tried to keep him at bay. "That's a foine howdoyado! We called you to rescue her, not to fuckin' end the job!"

"It's fine! I should have identified louder, it's my fault! I'm sorry, let's not fight!" Mei protested, as she pressed both hands to his chest and tried to push him back, leaving red smears across his shoulders.

"You ain't got nothin' to be sorry for, love! It's this drongo here-!"

"I thought she was another junker," Soldier growled, "I've never seen her like th-"

Several bullets spattered into the rock above them and peppered them with dust, causing all three to duck and immediately forget their squabble. Soldier lifted his pulse rifle and immediately began firing back, backing away to help shepherd the two towards the ramp. A gloved hand reached up to flick at something on his tactical visor, which glowed vivid red as the holographic field displayed before him, locking onto his targets one by one as they came into view. Junkrat put aside his grudge at least long enough to help, slamming another case of grenades into his launcher's feed as another round of frags went sailing into the air.

"You get inside, find the doc. I'll be back in just a tick. Oh, I'm gonna enjoy this," Junkrat said, his grin widening and baring his teeth. Mei lifted a hand to stop him but he was already gone, bounding off into the chaos with no small amount of glee. Soldier followed after him not long after, still uselessly trying to order the junker about.

Llimping and bloody, with no ammo left for her gun and her glasses cracked on one side, Mei finally headed up the ramp and into the rescue ship. It was a little strange to be back, back in the familiar belly of the vehicle where she'd deployed from so many times before, usually sitting as far away from the junkers as possible. She immediately slumped into her favorite chair, coughing a little and wishing she had a communicator to let the others know. She felt a little thrill of hope in the pit of her belly, though she wondered if that also might have been a side effect of the blood loss from her gut.

"Hello? Is anybody else here?" she called.

"Mei! Mei, love, is that you!" Tracer's voice, cheerful but more than a little stressed, sounded up by the front. The little pilot clearly had her hands full, numerous buttons blinking and beeping urgent messages from all sides of her as she flicked some of them on and off, her gaze roaming constantly over various screens and gauges all over the control board.

"It's me, Lena! I'm so glad to see you again. I'd offer a hug…" She winced a little, still holding her hand to her side. When she looked down and peeled it away, her palm was smeared with red.

"Oh! Maybe another time, don't let me forget! A bit busy myself, here, or I'd greet you proper! But once we're back-" The whole ship shuddered as there was another boom outside, and Tracer grasped a hold of the yoke, pulling it upward as she struggled to maintain control. "Oh bugger! Not sure how long we can keep this up! Athena, get everyone back on board so we can get out of here! If we can get out of here!"

She no longer wore a communicator, but Mei could almost hear the soothing tones of Athena's vocal systems in her head, relaying the orders of hasty retreat in her ever-polite manner. She slumped down into a seat, the one she usually took on their missions, tucked away in a corner. Snowball buzzed about happily before spotting its favorite charging station, settling onto the plug as its visor went dark. Mei smiled at it a little, glad at least someone was entirely happy about their return, before turning to watch as the other agents returned, one by one.

Roadhog was wheeling the half-broken remains of his motorcycle up the ramp, resolutely ignoring Soldier 76's bellowing to leave it behind as he provided cover fire. Pharah had been shot down and rather haphazardly tossed over the massive shoulders of Reinhardt as he backed slowly into the cargo area, shield upright. 's MEKA landed with a booming crash outside, metal feet clanking as she steered it inside. Then all eyes immediately turned when there was a shrieking whistle outside and an explosion, and Junkrat's blurry form was spinning through the air and into the cargo bay, singed form leaving a trail of black smoke as he went skidding along the floor before coming to a stop with a painful-sounding thud against the far wall, his spindly legs bent nearly double over his head before slumping sprawled out and face down on the floor.

"Jamison!" Mei called in alarm, starting to stagger upright.

"I swear, Mr. Fawkes, the situations you get yourself into…" Mercy's voice somehow always sounded so gentle, even when irritated. She cut an angelic figure as she appeared amidst the smoke and dust, valkyrie wings glowing and coming to a gliding landing next to the downed junker. A little check-over and a quick glow of her Caduceus Staff seemed to do the trick, and a moment later Junkrat was groaning and holding his rattled skull as he awkwardly rolled onto his back.

"That was a good one, mate," he wheezed, coughing up a black cloud as Roadhog's huge fingers suddenly closed around his head, carelessly dragging him up and setting him back on his feet.

Mercy rolled her eyes slightly before pausing, catching sight of the other junker that had mysteriously appeared on the other side of the ship. She approached with a hand raised, concern written all over her face. "Oh Mei-Ling…" she breathed out, going to gingerly place her fingers on her shoulder almost as if to check she was real. She'd seen her only briefly and rather blurrily, on that fuzzy old camera from their safehouse broadcast. But she looked so different in person. She didn't even look like the same person, really, and the only clue it was her at all was the dimpling in her cheeks and a faint glint in her dark eyes that looked like the old Mei.

"Dr. Ziegler. It's good to see you again. Um…I think I might need some help?" Mei said, and peeled her hand away from her gut with an unpleasantly sticky noise.

"Oh! Of course. _Und, wo tut's jetzt weh_?" Mercy's brows rose, quickly moving into action with the same grace as always. The staff lit up soothing yellow, and Mei relaxed immediately as its gentle glow enveloped her, eyes drifting shut almost in a daze. It was the first real healing her body had been able to do in months, and while normally the sensation of billions upon billions of glowing nanobot swarming her body, wounds knitting themselves shut and flesh sealing neatly under the skin was something Mei had always found a little eerie, it felt so wonderful that it rendered her into a stupor. She didn't even notice Mercy's increasingly worried expression, her eyes glued to the little display on her staff and her mouth moving in unheard muttering. " _Ach Du meine Güte_ …I think perhaps we'd best move you to the med bay for now? Nothing to fret over, just, taking a few precautions. Reinhardt, if you wouldn't mind helping me move-"

"Oi, I'll get her! C'mere, love!" Junkrat perked immediately from his seat, lifting both ash-covered hands to help.

Mercy turned a stern gaze upon him, holding up a hand. "That will not be necessary, Mr. Fawkes. We are very thankful that you are all back and mostly in one piece, but I'm afraid that our investigation into the situation is still pending and Mei is…less medically sound than I previously thought. Until we can get a better handle on the whole thing, I'd like you and your partner to remain as you are. Reinhardt, if you would please take her to the bay table?"

"That ain't fuckin' fair! I know what you're doing!" Junkrat protested, pointing in an accusatory way towards the medic and the immense armored German man now gently lifting his charge. "You got no idea what's happened to us and we don't have to tell you a fuckin' thing, so how about you and your monkey take your investigation an' shove it right up your _beautiful angelic_ -"

"You vill not talk to Angela like that!" Reinhardt boomed aloud, angrily whirling upon the junker with Mei still in both arms.

"Well, maybe you all shouldn't be talking to him like that," remarked a little snidely. "We've been fighting off crazy people in this crappy desert for a rescue mission, and now we finally do rescue Jamie and the others, and you immediately want to investigate him because, what, he kissed your friend?"

Soldier 76 was already strapped in and waiting to go, his face in both palms. "This is why I always thought interdepartmental fraternization should have been banned."

"Please don't fight," Mei said weakly.

"Hey!" Tracer's voice suddenly blared over the intercom. "Would someone please just move the lady and get everyone strapped in, because I'm turning this old girl around and we're still under attack here, just in case you've forgotten! Oh! Damnit! Brace yourselves!"

The ship abruptly pitched to one side, causing everyone not strapped in to stumble and Junkrat to land square on his ass as his peg went out from under him. But at least it seemed to resolve the situation, as Reinhardt quickly righted himself and hastily moved Mei into the tiny ship med bay as Mercy buzzed around her, strapping her into place and covering her with a blanket as she bustled about.

Mei craned her neck from side to side, and was briefly glad of the straps when the ship lurched to and fro before struggling up into the air. She could hear the pinging of more bullets and javelins against the underside of the ship, one last desperate attempt by the attacking junkers to bring it back to ground, before the thrusters all activated at once and the Orca went surging forward, the G forces so strong that they sent Mei careening to one side on the table and Mercy dropped her staff to hold on to her chair's handles with both hands. But soon the ship slowed to more manageable speeds and the doctor was fussing over her again, pressing and prodding her beneath the blanket and occasionally tapping things into her pad.

"I'm sorry to cause such a fuss, Dr. Ziegler," Mei said, even as the sounds of another argument started up from the room next door. "Junkrat and Roadhog are sick too, don't forget to make sure they're okay, please."

"It's fine, I'll be checking on them in just a moment. I can tell you're fretting. Don't worry. You haven't done anything wrong, Mei…Well, other than cut communications when we still wanted to talk to you, but that was merely another little matter that just got a bit out of hand. It's all merely a collection of things that got out of hand. I've already spoken to Winston about it, it is all being handled."

"I…noticed Winston isn't here?"

"Ah, no. Winston could unfortunately not attend. But I assure you he wanted to, and he was the first on the list until an emergency called him away. It's nothing you've done, and you don't need to worry. Now just try to relax, you might feel a pinching sensation…"

"Okay," Mei said a bit unhappily, not entirely sure she believed the good doctor. "You know, the junkers haven't done anything wrong either. I know that during the call, things got a little- Owch!"

"There's that pinching sensation, dear."

"It's like you said, Dr. Zeigler, it just got…a little out of hand. I wasn't feeling myself. I'm more than happy to start my report right away! If you would just get me a tablet, I'm sure we'll have a few hours where I can work and start to get everything cleared up."

"I would not be feeling myself either, with these levels of radiation sickness, weight loss, sun poisoning, and other afflictions..Not to mention fresh bullet wounds, and I understand you were mistakenly punched by one of our own? As much as I know you want to start getting organized, I must insist that the only thing you're going to be doing right now is resting," Mercy chided. "It's amazing you're doing as well as you are, considering your state. Now, take two of these-" She handed Mei two pills and a water, watching with a hawk-like gaze until she was sure Mei had taken them both. "-And try to concentrate on resting, if you must concentrate on anything."

"I'll be fine. What about the others?"

"If I believed that I could get either of the junkers to start taking their medicine and resting properly, I would do so. I have tried, believe me I have tried. The first time I tried to lock Junkrat into a private room with just a bed so he could begin recovery, he had apparently hidden a charge on his person and then blew the door controls…I think it might have been in his ear canal. I distinctly remember checking his mouth and nose and…other places… " She coughed, abruptly turning her back and starting to fill a syringe with clear liquid.

"That sounds like something he would do," Mei admitted with a sigh, before shaking her head abruptly, "Wait, you mean you checked his-"

"Most likely a technique he picked up in the various prisons he's frequented," Mercy said smoothly, sitting down next to her patient and motioning for her to look away before taking her arm and administering a careful injection. Mei winced and glanced away, waiting until the cool swab of cotton wiped over the spot. Mercy continued on, voice softening slightly. "I know you might think we are being hard on the junkers…your friends. But I have nothing against them and I assure you that I will do everything I can to make sure that both of them are as healthy and hale as I can. If we held a grudge against everyone who's ever been imprisoned or on the wrong side of the law, I would have an awful lot of free time on my hands. But we still have protocol to follow, Mei, you know that."

"You don't believe I really have Stockholm Syndrome, do you?"

"I thought at first you might have been in trouble, I will admit. I was worried. We all were. We had no information about you, Junkrat, or Roadhog. You three had vanished off the face of the earth. Then you suddenly re-appeared from nowhere. There were signs of bondage on your wrists and you were clearly hurt and sick…"

"I'm so sorry we worried you…" Mei couldn't help but give a little half smile. "And don't let Jamison hear the word bondage."

"Mei! Goodness, maybe you really have been spending too much time around the junkers."

"Sorry. But I tried to explain what happened, and then the moment I start talking about how they helped me, Winston suggested it was all just a trick of the mind? I just…That made me angry. I'm sorry, but I did, I got angry."

"It's not so simply cut and dry as that. I believe that you faced unimaginable difficulties and bonded with the only two people around you that you could rely on. Such bonds can become very deep. We'll have to wait on a full psychological profile after this, but…honestly, after the trauma you've faced, you becoming close with Mr. Fawkes is near the very bottom of my list of concerns. And Winston was just-" She sighed a bit, patting Mei's arm. "I don't want to speak for him, but I hope you and he can clear things up with each other. He's been frantic, searching for you these months, and I believe both of you were simply…shall we say, overwhelmed."

Mercy's voice was getting further and further away as the medicine started to take hold, but Mei found herself agreeing with whatever it was she was saying. "I know, Doctor Ziegler…I just…This just isn't how I thought things would go…according to plan…" she said, slurring a bit as she focused on the spinning ceiling.

"Things rarely do," the doctor's voice replied distantly.

She kept telling herself she was safe now. The rescue mission hadn't exactly gone off without a hitch, but she was safe. Junkrat and Roadhog were safe. After everything they had gone through, it was over. They could head back to the base, start the long process of getting better, and maybe, just maybe, things could go smoothly from here?

She gave a strange, reedy little laugh as she started to slip into unconsciousness, even causing the doctor to pause and check over her once more.

Who was she kidding? Things never went smoothly for someone like her.


	21. Chapter 21

There was pain, but it was so far off it didn't matter. Everything was pleasantly numb. It didn't feel like the chill of the ice that had protected but haunted her through most of her life. Instead she felt warm, almost cozy. Maybe they had put blankets on her, or maybe Jamie was holding her again. He was always nice and warm.

She drifted in and out of consciousness for a while, though she couldn't tell how long. Whenever she felt like she was just starting to swim back to the proverbial surface, when the buzz of overheard conversations and blurry shapes through her eyelashes just started to make sense, there would be a pressure in her arm and she'd be lost again. She knew she'd been dreaming, or hallucinating, likely a combination of both, but couldn't really remember any of them. Yet it didn't worry her, and she found her sleep to be soothing, and she might as well have been dreaming of nothing. Now that she was back safely with her friends and with Dr. Ziegler tending her broken body, she could rest easy.

At some point the sedation lessened, and when she began the slow ascent back to reality, there was nothing to stop her. At first she thought it would be nice to finally be back, she could greet all her friends and get started on her very long to-do work list. But as consciousness returned, so did the awareness of how much pain she was really in. That cozy warmth had turned into a burning sensation, and she moaned a little as she tried to open her eyes. Her limbs felt like lead and her nerves tingled unpleasantly, and her skin felt hot and uncomfortable, like she was trapped inside it.

" _Doo-doop! Wee-wee-wee!_ "

There was a chiming mechanical noise like her phone's alarm going off and she instinctively reached out to find it and turn it off, but when she finally managed to peel her eyelids apart, she found that she was blearily poking Bastion in the front light that served as its eye. But the omnic unit didn't seem to mind, still chirping and buzzing excitedly as it tilted its boxy head. Ganymede, strangely well-behaved as ever, hopped from shoulder to shoulder, fluttering his wings and tilting his head curiously at the strange scene.

She quickly lowered her hand back to her side. Of all the people she expected to find by her side upon awakening, this one hadn't occured to her. "Bastion?"

" _Wee-woop, doo hoo hoo, dweet!_ " The bot replied happily, pointing towards itself, then at her, and then gesturing around them. " _Dah-dah doo._ "

She struggled to sit, and the omnic beeped quickly and began moving pillows around to help prop her up. She was in one of the beds in Mercy's clinic, surrounded by drawn hospital curtains. But where everything should have been cold and clinical and white, she saw blurs of color all around her, and she was wearing a set of clean but unfamiliar pajamas. Bastion helpfully held up her glasses from the side dresser nearby, and when she put them on she saw that she was surrounded by vases of flowers from most of Overwatch, along with a slew of Get Well cards and a large adorable stuffed seal was in bed next to her. Bastion was already searching amongst the clutter on the table before holding out a simple folded paper to her.

She took it and opened it up. There, in large font, was printed a series of numbers.

U+2665 U+2665 U+2665 U+2665 U+2665 U+2665 U+2665 U+2665 U+2665 U+2665 U+2665

She blinked and gave the bot a questioning look, but before she could ask what the numbers were, a familiar booming voice spoke from the other side of her bed.

"I had to look up what it meant too. It's the Unicode sequence for the heart symbol in an old font called 'wingdings'," Winston said, offering a toothy smile. He lumbered awkwardly into the little space between the bed and curtains, lowering his back haunches into a sit. "Bastion was very disappointed that it couldn't be more involved in the search and rescue, and I'm not sure it understood the…Australian political climate or the reasons why. But it's been waiting to give you those hearts since it heard you got back and was happy to see you…We're…We're all happy to see you again."

"Winston!" She managed a smile, opening both arms. She felt a tug, noticing the IV drip tubes inserted into her arm, but went in for the hug anyway. His arms were absolutely massive as they wrapped around her, large enough to nearly envelop her entire upper body and then some as he gave her a fond little squeeze. And she couldn't even begin to describe how relieved she was to be hugging him again. "I'm happy to see you again too."

" _Doot_?"

"And you too, Bastion! It's so good to be back." She gave her gorilla friend a little kiss to his furry cheek, then withdrew suddenly when she was aware that the hug was beginning to hurt, her skin painful to the touch. "Owch…Ow, even if it's a little unpleasant still. How long has it been since we got back?"

"Not quite a week. I'm sure Angela can give you the details once she gets back from, ah, checking on the junkers. But she said you were due to wake up soon, so we've been helping keep an eye on you for a bit. How do you feel?"

"Honestly? I don't feel very well at all." She leaned back into her bed with a little slump, Bastion dutifully fluffing her pillows for her. "And Jamie? And Roadhog? Are they all right? Where are they?"

Winston shook his shaggy head. "The junkers are recovering elsewhere in the facility. All three of you had radioactive poisoning that was almost off the charts of survivability, your sunburns have been peeling rather unpleasantly, your organs were starting to fail in several different ways, multiple bullet and shrapnel wounds and…Well, the bruise where Agent 76 clocked you is mostly faded, at least?" He uttered a little rumbling chuckle that didn't really sound cheerful at all, then buried his face in his giant hands, fingers curling slightly into the pits of his eyesockets. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I never should have let you go."

She looked down quietly as Bastion soothingly patted Winston's back. Their last conversation together, they had fought and she had used vicious, uncharacteristic language at him when he'd nearly accused her of being mentally unsound. The initial relief she felt was starting to break, scattering back into shards of anger, resentment, sorrow, happiness…everything was a tangle and nothing was clear, and for a few long moments she could do nothing but stare blankly at the stuffed seal's happy face staring back up at her.

"Winston," she finally said. "I wanted to go. I wanted to help. I even demanded it, remember? And I think I did help. Even if everything went wrong, I think we helped. But…" She took a deep breath, even if it hurt a little. "I'm not sure I'm happy about it? I know that's a strange thing to say. I should be happy, and maybe soon I will be? But…A lot happened and…everything broke. Everything broke, and I broke, and you broke. And it's not anyone's fault. Winston, it's not your fault."

"I should have denied your request. Never should have-" he started to say, voice still full of despair.

"No. I wanted this. Not…all this. But please, I want you to know that no matter how mad I was, and even though I yelled at you, I never blamed you for any of it. Not really. And…I'm sorry for yelling at you. I was not myself, and even if I was mad I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. Even if I'm still a little mad. I'm sorry for that. And a lot of things."

Winston looked at her, his glasses sliding down his nose slightly. For once, her voice wasn't quavering and there weren't any frustrated tears. Mostly she just sounded tired. And she looked tired, too, so small and frail amongst all the pillows, and seemed nothing like the old Mei that had left for Australia so many months ago. He hadn't seen her like this since…well, since the Antarctica incident. Her gaze was hollow and far off, her mind still lingering and wandering back in the desert that had almost killed her.

"We did try to find you-" he started again, but Mei shook her head.

"I know you did. Everyone did what they could. Including us. I guess that's something I really learned while I was there with the junkers. Everyone just does what they can, just to try and stay alive a little longer." She sighed and reached out to take the flower that Bastion was offering her, rolling the stem between her fingers. "It's not anyone's fault. So…please don't blame yourself, because I don't. I mean it."

" _Doo-wee_ ," Bastion chirped hopefully, pointing to the paper with the Unicode hearts again.

She offered the bot a little half-smile. "I'm just glad that we got out alive and can see everybody again. I was afraid that…we might not get to?"

Winston shifted uncomfortably at the thought. "I knew you'd be fighting like hell to get out of there, if you were still out there, that you'd leave us a signal or a sign. I kept thinking if we just sent out more teams, more drones, we'd run into you eventually. But then time kept passing and complications kept happening, and there was no sign of you or the others or your equipment, not even a trail to follow. Some of the others were trying to suggest that we stop looking for you, and start looking for your body. But I refused. And I started thinking that maybe you'd been taken and hidden, that those men had turned on you, for some ransom or other or…" He trailed off, unable to meet the look she was giving him now. "I don't know what I thought. And then, on a random Tuesday, you popped up on the screen and there you were again, and I still didn't know what to think."

"That wasn't what happened at all. It was an emergency, we were forced t-"

"I know that now. I know the reason now. But back then, I didn't know anything. I was still looking for answers and finding nothing. And then all of a sudden you were back, and the first thing I did was-" he put his face in his hands again, voice slightly muffled. "I decided my own answers, put the blame on your associates and managed to insult you. And I'm sorry for that part too."

Her gaze softened and her smile turned a little more genuine. " _Xièxiè_ , Winston. I'm sorry too. I guess it's like Dr. Ziegler was saying. Maybe it was just that so much had happened and we were just overwhelmed."

"I think so too. And, I had a lot of time to think a little more logically even while I was regretting everything, over the last few months. I promised myself that if you came back safely, I'd ensure a new stipend and supplies and perhaps some staff volunteers, to try and get more things coming your way in the science division. Your first volunteer will be me, actually."

"Really? You mean that? I'd be very grateful! I mean, I'd hate to impose on you while you're trying to run operations at Overwatch. But of course I would love to have you along. We could really get a lot done, really help do what we need to do to help the world."

" _Doot_?"

"And we'd love to have you too, Bastion. You'd make the perfect research assistant." Mei nodded as the omnic patted his metal chest with a little clank.

" _Wee_!"

Winston coughed slightly into one fist. " And I- er, heard what you said about the MRE rations, during our impromptu meeting. Well, that and Agent Junkrat started telling me about all the things he would rather have been eating than those meals I sent with you, and even those sounded disgusting."

"They…were really bad," she agreed. "Putrid."

"I guess that's the reason they seemed like such a bargain. Well, maybe the new funding can help with that part too. Although I wouldn't start planning any expeditions quite yet. Angela's going to have my head if she thinks I'm distracting you from your rest. I'll give her a call right now, actually, she'll probably want to see-" He halted as he started to get up, when a small hand landed on his arm.

"Wait. I promise I'll get back to resting right after, but I want to see my friends. I want to know they're both okay."

The gorilla shifted uncomfortably. "Er…I'm not sure if that's really a wise decision at this juncture."

"Winston! I already explained what happened. Nobody did anything wrong, I thought we both agreed now."

"We do!" he said quickly. "It's not really that so much as, er, the junkers have very different ideas about necessary medical procedures. Mostly Agent Junkrat. He refused treatment, blew up a monitoring device and tried to escape in a grenade-propelled wheelchair, and I believe he's been sedated and moved to a more secure facility, but then Roadhog demanded to go with him…"

Mei groaned a little and sat back in her bed, massaging her temples. It had already started. Well, she'd made a promise to him, and if he could drag her across the Australian wasteland with no hesitation, she could stand a little chaos to make sure he was all right too. "Let me go talk with them, please? I think I might be able to help. Could we bring along some of these flowers too?"

" _Bweet-twee-weet_!"

Winston did not look entirely convinced that this was a good idea. "Er…I suppose so? Maybe just for a moment or two. Just a quick visit? Then it's right back to the recovery ward for you."

She was already starting to painstakingly shuffle her way out from under the covers, awkwardly tying her piggy headscarf back in place as the omnic started dutifully stacking bouquets into one arm, his cardinal companion pecking curiously at the blooms. Winston still looked unsure, but pushed back the curtains and lumbered off to fetch a wheelchair, starting to transfer her IV bags, blankets, monitors, her seal, and apparently anything else he was worried she might need. It took far longer than she would have liked, but she wasn't about to jeopardize her visit to the junkers, and soon he was satisfied enough that she was in a state to move. With one last moment of hesitation from Winston and a happy chirping tune from Bastion and Ganymede, they began to wheel her off.

* * *

When Winston had said the junkers had been moved to a more secure medical facility, she had assumed he had meant another room in the main hospital area. But when he wheeled her out, he took her out the hospital altogether, through the main entry, down across the docking area, across the base yard, and finally to one of the very far-off and lesser-used clinics that had mostly been used for storage. In front of it, there was an overturned wheelchair with one wheel hanging askew and broken, along with scattered frag casings, and a long scorch mark leading all the way down from the top of the hill, where Junkrat's ill-fated escape attempt had no doubt immediately gone awry and slammed him directly into the wall.

Somehow, she wasn't surprised.

The door hissed open, and she expected to see a harried and wild eyed Mercy pressed up against the wall desperately wielding her Caduceus staff, or the junkers up and about and threatening bodily harm. Clearly she had underestimated the good doctor, for the scene was surprisingly peaceful as they entered. The medical machines had been shoved into a pile on one side of the room, to make way for two hospital beds (or technically three, as Roadhog's bed was two beds strapped together to try and fit him) along with their IV drips and monitors, along with a tv-attuned holodrone that was hovering off to one side, playing some soap opera or other that was being watched by nobody. Just like she'd been afraid of, she saw that the junkers hadn't received the same welcome home she had. There was a small hastily-made arrangement of daisies and a set of cards from and Lucio, but that was it. She was glad she'd thought to bring some of her own.

She saw Junkrat's lanky form buried under a mound of covers, facing away from the door, but he didn't stir even as they made their way in. This was easily explained by the presence of not Dr. Ziegler, but Ana Amari, who was sitting with her tranq-dart gun at ready on her belt as she and Roadhog sat…knitting?

"Remember. In, around, under, off. In, around, under, off. That's it, pull it a little tighter there…Oh, you're doing very well, I think you might be a natural." The warm creaking tone of Ana's voice was always so soothing, as was her slightly wrinkled smile when she looked up and offered them a little wave of greeting. "Miss Zhou! I had a feeling we might be seeing you soon. You're welcome to join us if you wish, I'm sure you can always use another warm hat?"

Mei nodded in a rather distracted manner, unable to keep her eyes from the fact that Roadhog was indeed knitting. The enormous junker's hands nearly enveloped the knitting needles like they were mere pins, holding them delicately between two fingers in each hand, but manipulating the yarn around them with ease, weaving red and yellow into some new homemade creation. True to Ana's words, he was wearing a warm-looking knitted toboggan hat atop his eerie pig mask, the pom-pom on top bobbling slightly as he gave her a nod. "Mei."

She shook her head quickly, then caught the slightest movement of Roadhog's chin. He was looking past her now, to where Bastion stood in the doorway, weighed down with flowers.

" _Doo-wee-doo? Da-da-doot_?"

"…Hmm," the elder junker rumbled, and Mei understood all the subtle meanings behind that one low grunt, saw the way his thumbs tightened around his knitting needles, the barely discernible forward movement of his massive shoulders.

She was just about to speak when Winston diplomatically stepped in, going to relieve the omnic of the bundles. "Thank you, Bastion. Why don't you head back to the main hospital area and see if you can find Angela for us? I thought she would be here," he said, watching until the friendly bot and his bird companion clanked out of sight, calling after it. "We will talk to you later about the environment initiative!"

" _Bwee…_ "

Relieved that the situation was resolved before it had even begun, Mei awkwardly wheeled herself forward, maneuvering around Ana's chair as she went to place a vase full of peonies on Roadhog's bedside dresser. "How are you feeling?"

"Red zone radiation. Worse than usual," he said, and briefly lifted the pom-pom toboggan from his head. He was missing the white tuft of his usual ponytail and it seemed he had finally lost his hair too, and his head was mostly bald with scatterings of white peachfuzz. "Got the rest shaved. Ana."

"I think it looks pretty good this way," Ana responded cheerfully, her eyes still on her knitting. "It'll grow back sooner than later. Especially if you keep up with the meds and keep being the model patient that you are."

His brow furrowed slightly as he dropped a stitch, struggling to correct it. "Mm."

Mei nodded, her relief evident as she scooted past them towards Junkrat's bed. He still didn't stir, and she turned in her chair to give Ana a questioning look. "And is…Jamison okay? I mean, he's just sedated right now?"

"Right now, yes. Honestly, it was careless on our part not to dart him right off the ship. He went zooming off when we started to tell him of the medical procedures he was going to need. It took nearly an hour just to wrangle him into a bed, even with Roadhog's help. I've used enough dosage to put down an elephant several times over and he's still almost gotten out a few times. In fact, he's due to wake up rather soon here…Did she want to stay?" She tilted her head, noting Mei biting her lip and gazing at the unconscious junker in his bed.

He still had tufts of his hair attached, though a little more scorched and bald than usual, and he looked even skinnier and bonier than normal, which she didn't know was possible. But then again, he had started off as a mess of radiation and impulsive urges to begin with, and he looked mostly as he always had, though a little more peaceful than usual as he was knocked out and steadily drooling a new ocean into the divot of his pillow. At a loss of anything else to do, she sat up in her chair and started arranging bouquets of flowers on the tables around him.

Winston cleared his throat a bit. "I should probably be returning her to the main medbay now?"

Ana leaned back in her chair, waving a hand. "Oh Winston, I think everything is clearly under control here, let the girl visit for a while. Angela's off getting test results, we can take her back when everything's ready. And it might do the boy good to see a face he actually wants to see, once he wakes up. I'll be here, just in case." Her lips turned up slightly on the edges, smirking knowingly at Mei, who sheepishly went back to her flower-arranging.

Winston sighed and lifted both hands, starting to lumber out in defeat. "All right, all right. Just for a little while longer, until the doctor is back. At least I can tell her I tried."

"Shukran, Winston, ya azizi." Ana blew the retreating ape a kiss before settling back once more, knitting needles clicking. "Make yourself comfortable, Mei. You're welcome to join our new club here until he wakes up, or just watch whatever's on."

She shook her head, idly turning to the soap opera on tv, giving little fleeting glances to the sleeping junker. "I'm sorry he caused you all so much trouble. I wish I'd been awake, maybe I could have helped."

Ana gave a little laugh. "Do you think this is my first time dealing with difficult men who charge head-first into trouble? I need to tell Reinhardt to step up his game. The rocket wheelchair thing was creative, at least, I'll give him that. Good story to tell for poker night. Oh, Roadhog, you're in for our next poker night, aren't you?"

"Mm."

"I don't understand why he'd make such a fuss about treatment at all. We fought so hard to get back here," Mei said, pursing her lips. "He fought so hard so we could get back."

Ana and Roadhog exchanged a little glance before focusing back on their needles, Ana speaking up. "He fought so hard so _you_ could get back, I think. He seemed relieved once you were back in our care. The explosions only started after we wanted him for treatment as well."

"That makes no sense. We were all there, we all needed help. Did he think he could just drop me off and…and what? Wander away? After all we went through? He needs to get better too!"

"Don't try to make too much sense of men. Especially not that one."

Roadhog grunted an agreement.

Mei scowled, then started yet another struggle to rouse herself out from under the stack of blankets on her lap, her limbs still weak and wobbly and the tubes from the IV swaying to and fro from her arm. Roadhog idly offered one massive arm, reaching all the way across to her as she grabbed onto it and steadied herself, painstakingly clambering up from her wheelchair and up into Junkrat's hospital bed, crawling under the covers with him. He remained unresponsive, his back facing her as she sat up against a pillow and fiercely folded her arms. "Well, then we're going to have a talk about him causing trouble. When he wakes up. As soon as he wakes up, he's going to get it."

"That's the spirit, habibati," Ana chuckled. "Give him a piece of your mind. Nice to see you'll be sticking around."

"…More yarn, please," Roadhog said. "Do you have pink."

Mei sat and waited, watching the boring opera and slowly sinking down more and more into the thin mattress as she listened to the steady clicking of knitting needles and hushed conversation. If Jamison thought he would be getting off the hook just because all of them were half dead and suffering from massive radiation poisoning, well he was completely wrong. They would definitely be talking that one over. Just as soon as she was sure he was really all right. After she was sure she had confirmed for herself that he was okay, maybe then. And maybe…Maybe after she had a little nap herself. Just a little one.

Huddling down into the blankets and laying her head on her seal, she draped an arm over him and pulled herself closer before drifting off again, breathing going low and still to match his as the drone of the tv continued. The knitting, however, had paused for a moment, though she didn't know it.

"I think they'll be all right. Sometimes, things just work," Ana said. "Although with these ones, they will either get along surprisingly beautifully, or clash so hard that the universe will come apart in a deluge of ice and fire…Either one of those, really. I don't think you should worry."

"…Hmm."

"You know, you're not as hard to read as you think, Roadhog. If one takes the time to look. Of course, you know what that means? I've got you dead to rights for poker night. You and your tells are going down, my friend."

"Try me."


	22. Chapter 22

Something was poking her repeatedly in the back and she tried to pull away, keeping her eyes closed and her posture lax. If she kept pretending to be asleep, maybe it would leave her alone. There was a pause, but then it continued, what felt like the tip of a finger curiously prodding between her shoulderblades.

"Stop that," she moaned, still not moving.

Junkrat hesitantly shuffled closer, hot breath wafting across the back of her neck as he poked at her again with his remaining hand. "You real, darl?"

She draped an arm over her eyes tiredly, feeling the tug of the IV still taped in the meat of her elbow. "Yes."

Junkrat huffed suspiciously. "Prove it. How do I know you're the real Mei and not another dream. Say somethin' only the real Mei would know!"

She had just woken up and it was entirely too early for this, but he was still poking her and not letting it rest, so she searched her still-foggy waking mind for something that would prove that Mei was Mei. She rolled onto her back, looking up at the blurry ceiling. "We were out in the desert together, near the shack. You blew apart a little cliff and made a heart for me. I kept one of the rocks."

Junkrat was quiet for a long moment and she had thought the answer satisfied him, but he merely muttered a low "Did I?…Yeah. That's an ace idea. Explodey heart sounds pretty romantic. I mean, seems like something I'd do. Did I do that?"

She sighed. His poor memory couldn't seem to dig that one up, so she tried for something she knew he'd found more…eventful. "You blew apart the cliff, you made a heart, then you took a bath-"

"Got ya! I'd never _willingly_ take a bath! I knew you wasn't-"

"You did! So we could…you know…out on that blanket? We, um, you know, were together physically. What did you call it? Er, we rooted?" She pulled at the collar of her pajamas, and there was the mostly faded ring of a bruise in the shape of his teeth.

She could almost hear the gears grinding between his ears, quickly pulling that memory back to him. His face lit up, his grin returned, and his lanky arms moved around her, burying his face into her bosom and wiggling his pointed nose down until he was smothered between her breasts. Mei made a show of rolling her eyes slightly, but rested a hand on the back of his head, slowly petting over the few tufts of blond hair that remained. His eyes rolled up to her from where he was still buried face-first in her chest, gaze full of adoration, and when he spoke his voice was muffled. "Yeah! Yeah we did. Had a good time, I recall. Really good fuck. Yeah, won't forget that one."

"It was…a nice time," she said politely, lifting her chin a bit. "So to answer your question, I'm really me. I came to visit you and Roadhog here in the outer clinic."

"Oh…Yeah, guess the clinic part is real too, then. Damn. Listen, lovey, it's good you showed up, I knew you'd come to help me out! I think Nana hid my parts somewhere around here. If we can at least get my arm back, can do a makeshift leg, can work with that." He paused from where he had started trying to slip his hand into her pajama pants, blinking and extracting himself from her cleavage to actually look around him. He seemed distracted, and not really in a good way. "Lots of wiring here. Oxygen tanks too, probably. Heh. They think this is gonna stop the unstoppable Jamison Fawkes? Should leave a present for 'em, I should. All right, listen up. Outer clinic's attached on two walls, can probably blow our way out the left side into that practice field and we're home free." He pulled himself off her, lifting onto his arm and calling aloud, "Oi! Roadie, you still in here?"

There was a familiar grunt behind the curtains. "Mm."

"Get ready to move, mate. Just give me a few minutes here at the most, and we'll- Oi! Mei, what're you-" He paused as her arms wrapped around him. "Ooh, had a taste and can't get enough of ol' Junkrat, eh? Uh, look, maybe a quickie after we get a distance from here, but-"

"That's not what I meant!" Mei said quickly. She had made an attempt at physically latching onto him, wrapping both arms limply around his shoulders and trying to drag him back down into the bed, wheezing slightly. How could he possibly find the strength to be up and about and hatching more escape plans, when she felt so weak and sick? She was having trouble even just trying to cling to him, protesting aloud. "We're not going to do any more escape attempts. We need to stay here, and do what the doctors say, and we need to get better. You need to get better!"

"I am better!" he snapped, lifting himself to sit up as Mei landed in his lap. "Roadie, get the things!"

"Hmm…" Roadhog rumbled behind the curtain again, but didn't seem to move.

"You're not!" Mei continued her sad attempt at a headlock, even if he barely seemed to notice. "You are not better yet, none of us are. Jamie would you please…listen!"

"I am listening! I can listen while I find my bits! And while I get these…fuckin'! Poisons! Outta me!" He flailed his single arm, yanking at the tubes that connected him to his drip, blood streaming from where it became dislodged. Mei drew back in alarm, eyes wide, and Junkrat took the opportunity to stand, taking a deep breath before flinging his leg over the bed and lifting upright. "I been fine before, I'll be fine now! These goddamn-" His leg trembled and then abruptly crumpled beneath him, sending him to the floor with a painful sounding thud, and Mei could only watch in dawning horror as he curled up into a ball, holding his gut and retching up a mouthful of mostly clear greenish liquid that pooled beneath his open mouth.

She had just started to climb off the bed after him, unsure of how she was going to lift nearly seven feet of agitated junker, when the curtain was drawn back. Ana stood there, looking down at the twitching Junkrat with an unimpressed air and offering a calm "Amil ayh," before pushing the rolling curtain aside fully. Despite her small size and being in her sixties, she leaned down to grip him under his amputated arm, heaving with all her might as she helped boost him mostly upright, leaving Mei quietly impressed. "I think you need to get back into bed, dear. And that's just a friendly suggestion for now. Now rinse." There was suddenly a cup shoved up under his nose, smelling of mouthwash and mint, and he begrudgingly took it down to slosh in his cheeks. "…And spit." Back into the cup it went, and the junker fell into a fit of minty fresh coughing. Mei had the feeling this was far from the first time this had happened.

Ana struggled somewhat to roll him back into the bed, Mei pulling him back towards her. She grabbed at the edge of her sleeve, going to dab away the bile that had dribbled from his mouth, brows furrowed in worry. "Is he going to be all right? Jamie, please just get in and lay back down with me?"

"None of you have been able to keep much solid food down since the treatments started," Ana said, moving to the foot of the bed to help lift his gangly leg back into place under the sheets. "Dr. Ziegler told us it would happen, along with an unpleasantly long list of side effects, but I'm afraid Mr. Fawkes has found it…disconcerting. And Jamison, next time I will not hesitate to put you out again. Even you have better manners than this, I know. Especially when we have a guest who came all this way to see you."

Junkrat let himself be guided back into bed. At least he had mostly stopped fighting, though he looked away from them both a little sullenly. "I've been puking my soul out, love. Fuck…Everything's dry and scraping and black on the inside, I can feel it, and it doesn't feel right. This isn't like getting hurt regular. Never had it this bad, and I have felt some shit over the years. Would rather just keep the damn radiation! This ain't treatment. It's torture."

"You always did have a flair for the dramatics. Save it for the actual battlefield and try to get some rest for now." Ana said wearily. With practiced ease, she inserted the IV back into its port, wiping away the rivulets of blood, before pointing to her single eye and then back to him sternly. "Be good." And with that, she pulled the curtain back around them and their semblance of privacy returned.

"You shouldn't cause them so much trouble just for trying to help us. It's just a part of getting better…" Mei muttered lamely, feeling rather lackluster in her attempts to comfort him when she wasn't feeling any better herself. "You brought me here so I could get better, and both of you are going to get better with me. You brought me all the way-"

"You were dyin', love! And you, you're not like Hog and me. We can just…Me and him, we get better or we don't, arright? But you're not a junker. You're too good, that's why you gotta be here. You gotta get better so you can go out and do your world-saving things." He looked almost as frustrated as she felt, and she knew they weren't seeing eye to eye again. He continued on. "I did what I was supposed to do. I got you back safe, just like the mission brief said. Contract's all done."

"Oh no you don't," she shot back, narrowing her eyes behind her glasses. "You don't get to do that to me."

"Darl, I-"

"No. You may have completed a task for Overwatch, and I'll make sure you're paid for it. But you and I…we made a new contract out in that awful desert. You didn't abandon me when I needed you, and I promised you I wouldn't leave either. Well, we're back, and I'm still not going to leave you."

"I told you, that's different! You're different!"

"And I told you, we're not that different after all. After all we went through, I'm not going to let you just…throw me back into Overwatch and then you be off on your way. I promised you I'd be here for you, so here I am. We're all going to get better together." She folded her arms in a very final way, as though that action alone would finish the argument.

"Arroight, now you're just bein' stubborn."

"Oh, _I'm_ the one being stubborn?!"

They both heard Roadhog sigh audibly from the other side of the room.

Junkrat squinted at her, lips screwing up and off to the side in an incredulous expression. She childishly scowled back at him. The two seemed to be in a face-off, even as they sat next to each other in bed, half under the covers. Petulantly, he shoved a little at her leg with his own, and she kicked him a little back, jostling him back into place. She elbowed him, then he elbowed her in retaliation. And before he knew it, when he looked back over at her, she was suddenly on top of him and his arm was looping around her, and she was kissing him almost viciously, and they moaned together as his tongue searched covetously between her lips. His grasp around her tightened, almost as if he was making sure she truly _was_ real, and was delighted to feel familiar soft flesh under the rake of his fingernails. She clutched back at him in much the same way, something hurried and desperate, hungry for the smoky taste of his breath mingling with hers. He ground himself up into her, cursing inwardly at the layers of cloth between them as he moved to free his hand to take care of them, but she was suddenly pulling away again, trying to undo where their IV tubes had tangled together in their haste. He stared at her unsurely, panting a few breaths of air. Her glasses were askew and her gaze behind them were still annoyed and tired, but even he could see that there was something pleading underneath it.

"Jamie…please?" she whispered.

Everything inside him was liquified agony and his instincts were still screaming, echoing inside the hollow places in his skull that he needed to flee. He needed to get out of here, back to where the pain was present but manageable, where the poisons in him were at least familiar. With just him and Hog again, that was all he'd ever needed; a life where they answered to nobody, not even each other. He could blow his way out of here like he'd done with every other trouble, in the few years of his life he really remembered. Blow it up. Blow it all to hell.

But she'd just said _please_ …

He uttered a little conflicted noise, eyes darting around the curtains that enclosed them and the flowers that had appeared alongside Mei's very presence. She was still looking at him in a way that hurt him almost more than the doctor's cruel medicine, and he found himself sinking slowly back into the pillows in a defeated posture. He couldn't even blame this on the now absolutely raging boner she'd given him yet again. This was something genuine. She wanted him to get better, so he supposed that now…he had to.

"…Yeah…all right…"

The brightness returned to her tired features and she hugged herself back to his side, pressing a kiss to his jaw. "You promise me?"

He groaned. "Blimey, you're twisting the only arm I got here, love. Fine. I promise ya."

"Good! Very good, I'm sure together w-" she started to say, before he abruptly held up one finger.

"But on one condition! I hear they gotta give you all the free ice cream you want. No more cutting me off like in the dining hall, all the ice cream I want!"

"Erm, Jamie, I think that's only for tonsils, or- You know what, fine. If that will help you with the treatments." She sighed, shaking her head a bit. Maybe she would never really figure out the way his strange mind worked, and maybe that would be okay. "Just, no more escape attempts and no more trouble. Why don't we tell Angela, and maybe we can get you and Roadhog moved back to the main base. With me?"

"Yeah! You and me and Roadie, we can be true blue bunkmates." He managed a lopsided grin, baring his teeth before looking at her a little more thoughtfully, as the promises of ice cream were edged out of his mind. "You fierce little fuckin' thing, guess you meant it when you was talking about staying with me…I mean, us, ya know?"

"Of course I meant it. I promised." She lifted her chin a little, taking his hand under the covers and folding her fingers to entwine with his, grasping and holding them there. "And you promised too now, so…I won't let you forget it!"

He gave her a rather sparkly-eyed look, flushing as if suddenly lovestruck all over again. "That's my girl. You tell 'em! And you tell me! That's my Snowflake. Aw, you make me feel real funny on the insides, you know?"

Mei smiled up at him, but then noticed his flushed features seemed to be turning from pink to green. "Um, Jamie? That might not be me, that might be the medicine…"

His grin turned a bit shaky. "Oh…fuck," he said haltingly, "Think y'might be ri-" before his head flopped forward and he promptly vomited right into her lap.

* * *

Junkrat's frantic apologies lasted for what seemed like forever, an onslaught of panicked babbling while he repeatedly kept trying to take off his own pants to give to her, and only ceased when Ana returned with a fresh pair of pajamas for her to change into. Worse yet, she'd barely gotten one pants leg on before she heard the door hiss open on the other side of the room, followed by a barrage of irritated German words that heralded the return of Dr. Ziegler. Ana stepped in once more, though she quickly took Angela off to the side and Mei couldn't quite hear what was being said.

Were they talking about her? Or Jamison, maybe?

She felt a little odd, though she wondered how much of that was the own underlying unpleasant nausea from her own treatments. Why did she still feel like a kid again, as though she kept getting caught with a boy her parents didn't approve of? She'd never even had that experience before, her parents had always approved of her choices, always been proud and supportive of her. Then again, she'd never tried to bring someone like Jamison home before. Maybe it would have been different if she'd ever presented them with a radiation-mad Australian demolitionist that had just accidentally puked all over her.

But the way he'd looked at her, just before that…And he had _promised_ …

"Mei?"

Angela was pushing aside the curtains, and Mei must have startled or had a strange look on her face, because the doctor quickly moved to take her shoulder as if to steady her, still speaking soothingly. "It's just me. Ana told me about all of the recent…antics, here. You really should have waited for me to return, you know. Do you know how frantic I was, coming back and finding you missing from your bed? And then I found Winston lingering in the hallway-"

"Please don't blame Winston!" Mei said quickly, brows furrowing as she watched the doctor examine the IV bag, replacing it with another one soon after. "He's been through enough blame. I asked to come here and then made a fuss. I just wanted to check up on them."

"I had a feeling you'd be here before I even spoke to him, actually. Have you and Mr. Fawkes come to terms? I'm sure you were told of the wheelchair incident? Among others?" She flipped through her folder. "When we hired the junkers, I was really hoping he would be exploding targets other than our own medical facilities."

"I'm right bloody here!" Junkrat's voice came from the other side of the curtain. "Fuck me, just cause I'm sorta deaf in one ear and maybe the other ear, doesn't mean I can't hear you!"

"We ah, we did talk things over. He's agreed to do the treatments and won't make cause any trouble, but I was hoping you wouldn't mind if we moved them back to the main facility with everyone else? I mean, if there's no more trouble, they could stay in the main ward with me. Also…" Mei coughed, taking off her glasses and wiping at them on her pajama shirt. "Alsoifhegetsalltheicecreamhewants."

"That's really more for tonsilitis and other-"

"I know, I really do. But could you approve it?" Mei clasped her hands earnestly. "They both helped me get out of that desert and it just…feels strange without them? Is that an odd thing to say? Ana says Mr. Roadhog's been a model patient and Jamison promised me no more rocket wheelchairs. Would you consider it, please, Dr. Ziegler?"

Angela pursed her lips, brushing a lock of hair from her eyes, staring at the curtain as though she could see Junkrat straight through it. To Mei's dismay, she did not readily agree to the idea of it. It took almost a full minute of silence before the doctor relented, waving a hand and starting to type into her medical monitor's screen as it suddenly projected between them. "I will give this a chance, Mei-Ling. I've just put in the transfer and I'll have them moved. But this means that I expect all three of you to be on your best behavior. If I hear so much as one little boom from the hospital ward…"

Mei smiled in relief. "Thank you, Dr. Ziegler!"

* * *

Sometime later, Mei was back in her wheelchair, being pushed by the ever-patient Angela. Beside them was Junkrat, shoved in a mass of gangly limbs into another wheelchair (without rockets), and being pushed by the massive wheezing form of Roadhog, his breathing a little more labored than usual and his pace a bit slowed. He had insisted on walking, and neither woman challenged it, if only to spare his pride. Junkrat, true to form, did not seem to notice his bodyguard's distress, somehow finding the energy to keep rocking to and fro in his seat. "Gee! Haw! Mush, Roadie, mush! We can still get there by breakfast! Remember, we got a whole deal going here, all the sweetie treaties we can eat. You want chocolate or vanilla first? You think they got weird flavors like banana here? D'you ever think they'd name an ice cream after us? Y'know, us being real world-famous and all. Fudge RIPple? Rocky Roadhog? Cookies n' CreamMei?"

"Do you ever shut up?" Roadhog grumbled, pausing to catch his breath and pretending to examine something on the horizon.

Angela looked amused as the younger junker fidgeted impatiently in his chair. "Say what you will about your methods, Mr. Fawkes, your ability to quickly recover from trauma is second to none."

"That's cause I'm the best at what I do, mate. At everything I do. Don't get me wrong, I'm still…er…what's the word for when you're proud but like, you ain't too proud?"

"Humility," Angela supplied.

"Yeah, I'm real humiliating!"

Mei felt two sets of eyes upon her and there was a long pause to see who and if anyone would laugh first. Mei's lips tightened and thinned, but she gently coughed and corrected him instead. "You're not humiliating, you're humble. I mean, you're not humble, but that's the word."

Roadhog's gigantic hand encompassed the entirety of Junkrat's head and face before he could answer, bodily shoving him back down into his wheelchair. "Sit down."

They traveled slowly across the length of the base, stopping occasionally so Roadhog could rest, and listening to Junkrat's incessant chatter. By the time they reached the main ward, their beds had been made up, and even Mei's flowers and cards had been fetched and put back in place. Roadhog shoved Junkrat's chair just inside the door, headed right for the largest of the three beds, and uttered a muted rumbling groan that reminded Mei somewhat of a beached whale, before he went sprawling back, snoring before his masked head hit the pillow.

Angela, no-nonsense as ever, bustled about, helping deposit both Mei and Junkrat into their respective beds and hooking them up to the newest battery of machines and monitors. Blood was drawn, paperwork was filed, and she pulled up her rolling stool between their beds before they could even settle in. "Well, I've good news, at least. Winston's rescue came just in time. It will take some time and yet more of these unpleasant treatments, and I'm afraid you will both likely lose the rest of your hair…even you, Jamison, although your eyebrows still need to be studied as a medical miracle for being as robust as they are after all this…But we should be able to repair the damage done to your organs, purge the radiation eventually, and remove Mr. Fawkes' multiple melanoma cancers and other issues."

She paused, and then slowly reached down to pull two white buckets from under their beds, setting them nearby with a little hollow clunk. "The bad news is that you're still going to be spending quite some time here, and the side effects are still going to be unpleasant. But I assure you they'll be manageable. We'll do everything we can to make sure you are all comfortable. Now, I want you both to follow Agent Roadhog's example and try to get some rest. _Die ordnung wahren_." There was a sudden rapid beeping from her phone, and she nodded fiercely to them before turning and hurrying from the ward.

Mei gave a little side glance to Junkrat, and found that he was already peeling the covers off, swinging his leg back down to the freezing cold floor and grasping onto his IV stand for support, scraping and hopping his way over. Mei scooted to one side, already making room for him, and when he struggled in over the bar on one side, she pulled the blankets over them both and moved right back up against him.

He wrapped one arm carefully around her, massaging one broad hand into the back of her shoulders idly. "Still don't like the idea of bein' stuck in this place, you know?"

"I know," she said, snuggling into the crook of his elbow and resting her head on his bony chest, listening to the hiss of his lungs working and the always-rapid thudding of his heart. "But I'll be here."

"But y'know how I get. What if you'll get annoyed with me, love?"

"Probably. We'll probably annoy each other," Mei murmured, tilted her head slightly to look up at him.

"But you ain't worried?"

"No."

He mulled that over, lips mouthing idly at the top of her headscarf, pecking not-quite-kisses to her head in thought. "Huh. Well, if you ain't worried, I ain't worried."

"Good. Also, I think my ice cream would be more of a pepper-mei-nt."

His eyes lit up again, although at least this time there wasn't any sickness to follow. He pressed more kisses to her face and forehead, pulling her up closer still. "Oh, that's awful! We should make a list of these for Roadie when he wakes up. You know, get to work annoying each other proper-like."

"I guess we do have an open schedule for a bit," she said, tilting her face up so his kisses would start landing on her lips instead. "Although it sounds like none of us are going to have very much fun. Maybe some of the others will start visiting us? That should help pass the time, I'm sure we've…missed a lot…in almost five months..." Her gaze started to go dark and distant once more, only to be jolted out of it a moment later when a set of sharp teeth closed together to nip her on the side of her jaw.

"Oi. Come back, darl, don't get like that again. You were just taking a nap, but this time we were there with you, right? We were all together, still are. Cause we promised, right? You said you're not going to let me forget, yeah?" He tilted his head, his strange golden gaze peering into hers.

"R-right."

"Too roight. Now, who's ready for some unlimited ice cream!"


	23. Chapter 23

Their recovery had not been easy. Her insides had turned red and black and rebelled against her own body, the remainder of her hair had fallen from her scalp, her first attempts to eat real food had resulted in immediate and violent expulsion, and there had been nights of pain where there was no relief until she begged Angela to put her under, better to lose herself in sleep yet again than suffer any more. Junkrat and Roadhog never made any such requests, and endured the treatments with the same angry muttering and resigned stoicism with which they had faced other equally unpleasant things. Dr. Ziegler oversaw their medical recuperation with a keen eye, guiding them through their healing with the help of Ana and Lucio (Zenyatta's offers of meditation and renewal arts had been swiftly and viciously denied) while Mei filled out pile after pile of paperwork explaining every minute detail of what had happened during their disastrous expedition into the wastes of Australia; often with Junkrat chiming in to not to forget to include some of the more 'juicy bits'…though Mei wisely decided to leave most of his more scandalous suggestions out.

Winston and Bastion came with yet more paperwork (although this was a great deal more fun to fill out) about possible scientific excursions in the future, and her gorilla friend seemed both sincere and eager to possibly get out of the lab for a while himself, although he hoped it would go a little more smoothly than the mission to the Outback. Bastion had marked several dot locations on the world map, but merely tilted its head when asked what they were and simply pointed to them again, while Junkrat whispered suspicion and threats in the background at its strange behavior. And after that, they had a steady stream of visitors simply coming to see them; from Ana and Roadhog's knitting club, Lucio and stopping by to play video games with Junkrat, and when Zarya had returned from a mission abroad, she had nearly crushed Mei in one of her all-encompassing bear hugs and had visited every day after that; with books, stories, and a Russian stew that she swore would make Mei feel better in no time.

Even Torbjorn had dropped by, though it was merely to drop off the newly repaired Snowball. He had painstakingly worked his way through and around Junkrat's makeshift 'repairs', though even he seemed baffled by how it was functioning at all. The little drone's AI had been transferred into a sparkling new blue hull, and its pixel eyes no longer sputtered or went randomly dead, and it no longer sounded like a flatulent oldworld modem when it beeped hello to her. Mei had been overjoyed to see it back to its old self, and it hovered over to nudge and hug into her arms…before promptly turning around and starting to flash more Mandarin curse words across its screen, aimed at Junkrat. She had been giggling too hard to really scold it as the two started fighting across the room again, and decided to leave her companions as their imperfect selves.

And they had been interviewed numerous times as they lay in their beds. Even Roadhog had been pressed for as much information as possible, though the old junker rarely offered more than his usual grunt or a shake of the head. When the dreaded questions came about Junkrat's and Mei's 'relationship', as they professionally called it, to Mei's relief it amounted to little more than a few awkward inquiries as to their mutual consent. Winston never mentioned any more accusations of Stockholm Syndrome, and instead spent most of that interview cringing and trying to avoid any more of Junkrat's winking and bragging about his self-proclaimed 'irresistible animal attraction, sheer virility and amazing sexual prowess, an absolute vision in the nuddy, and hey are you writing all this down?' while she hid her face in both hands and wished that the radiation had killed her to spare her the embarrassment.

But that had been months ago. Things were starting to get back to normal.

Her hair was starting to grow back in now, and Symmetra had kindly trimmed it into a feminine bob for her so she no longer looked like a shaggy mess. The color had returned to her face, her lungs no longer hurt when she breathed, and she had regained some of the weight she'd lost during her months of ice and fire in the desert. She was beginning to look and feel like herself again, and now she could smile when she brought up the eco-monitor program, watching the red blobs of the radioactive storms roll across the wastes. And though Overwatch couldn't publicly take credit for her work and she had to remain a mysterious benefactor, Winston had let her know that the early warning systems she'd programmed were now a mainstay in the lives of the Outback's inhabitants and was already saving lives.

She had helped. Despite everything, she had helped. She still couldn't say if it had all been worth it. There was still something small and poisonous and black lurking somewhere in her, something even Mercy's medicine couldn't fix, something that made her angry and hurt every time she started really thinking of things…What a cost she'd paid…

But it was over, and she had helped.

***

* * *

The sweet breeze of the ocean air of Gibraltar felt cool against her face and ruffled the ends of her hair against her cheeks, bringing some small relief from the hot sun. She sat on one of the far rooftops by one of the communications tower, listening to the crash of the waves and the shrieking gulls as she scribbled in one of her personal notebooks.

"Tried to read your diary there one time, ya know. Your lil' journal thing?" Junkrat was laying stretched out on a towel a small distance away, his mechanical limbs discarded nearby and a comically large set of sunglasses on his nose as he lay basking in the sun. Like Mei, he had recovered and was looking his old self again. His own hair had grown out at a record pace, even over most of his bald spots, and his eyebrows were as mysteriously bushy and healthy as ever, as if they had grown back overnight.

"Oh?" She looked up from her writing, glancing over.

"Real smart of you to encrypt it all in Chinese, love, real smart."

She smirked and went back to scribbling. "Do you want me to write some in English for the next time you decide to spy on me?"

"Sounds great. Be a doll?" That familiar toothy grin spread across his face, tucking the stump of his arm under his head. "Mostly I just wanted to see if you ever wrote about me. You know, silent yearning from afar, who's that mysterious man, maybe a kinda sexy intrigue? That sorta thing."

"Well, I can assure you that that was really not what I was writing about you back then…It was probably best you couldn't read it," she admitted.

"Owch, darl."

"Sorry! I mean, it wasn't anything terrible, just…not the nicest, either," said quickly. "But I've written more about you since then!"

He leaned up slightly, adjusting his sunglasses with suddenly renewed interest. "Is it real good?"

She smiled demurely, looking away. "It might be good. It's a shame you can't read any Chinese..."

"Owch again! That's ice cold! C'mere, you." He waved his good arm as she scooted a little closer, pulling her in. "I know that look. Somethin' bothering you? Is it the pills? Is it your hair? I like it short, looks real nice on you."

She shook her head, laying down beside him with a little nudge to make room. "Nothing. It's just hot out."

"Pft, this ain't hot. Still, you wanna go in?"

Another shake of her head, closing her eyes against the sun. "It just reminds me of being back in that little house again, back in the desert. For a while there I kept thinking I would wake up and be back in that shack. It's just like when I would wake up and think I was back in…back when it was cold instead of hot. Jamison, are you…Are you glad we came back?"

"Of course I am! They saved ya!"

"But…are you glad? That we're back here? I'm sorry, I don't even know why I'm asking…"

His gaze turned a little wary behind the lenses of his goofy glasses, his bushy brows furrowing slightly. He was silent for a long moment, shifting restlessly atop the towel, before replying with a low "Well, that's a bonzer of a question, ain't it? Arright look, I know you ain't actually asking me, you're asking you. But! For what it's worth, my answer is…'I don't know'. You got no idea how much this place pisses me off, most of the time. But, it ain't all bad. Got my own place, food whenever I want it, getting paid by a monkey to blow things up, and they got the doctorin' facilities that saved my most favorite lady in the world…and then I got fucking _bullied_ into the doctoring stuff too, might I add."

"Oh, that wasn't bullying!" She protested half-heartedly. "And I'm glad I did. I'm glad you're better."

"See! Then there's something to be glad about! Yours truly! And I don't mind saying that's a lot to be glad of, you snagging the most handsomest and humblest bloke this side of Oz. Look, you don't gotta figure out the answers all the time. And you don't gotta be happy, neither. Sometimes things are shit, but it's better than being attacked by bees, ya know? Dunno if I'm glad to be back. Just glad you're here, wherever. And if you go trying to find whatever you're trying to find, I'll go with ya."

There he was again, cutting through to the heart of the matter she could only ever dance around, blunt as always. He could blast a path of destruction wherever he went, and this was no different. No matter how many walls she put up, he was one of the only ones who could tear them down just as quickly. Sometimes it irked her, and sometimes it was exactly what she needed most, even if she couldn't come out and say it. It hadn't been the desert that had broken through her ice. Not really. It had been him. She'd been cold before, for so long, and it still felt like his body heat was burning even warmer than the sun above them. She could feel it against her cheek as she pulled in closer to his side, running her fingers up his side and feeling the sharp angles of his jutting ribs. "You're awfully philosophical, you know. And maybe romantic. In an extremely odd way. I never would have guessed it before."

His grin returned, leaning to press his nose to hers smugly. "Heh! S'truth!"

She had felt trapped here before, would probably feel trapped here again if she stayed too long…but it was nice, in its own way. It was a place at least worth returning to. How could she be too sad when the sun was shining, the birds were calling, and the sea was lapping gently so close by, and with her strangely charming companion smiling at her like that? Maybe it wasn't ever going to be her idea of home, but maybe she'd been too hard on it.

Maybe she'd been too hard on a lot of things.

She was distracted by a pair of lips on her jaw and neck, starting to creep downward, and she squirmed as he started to roll on top of her, pressing both hands to his bare chest to keep him at bay. "Jamie?"

"Too much thinkin'! Live in the now! Give your brain a rest, lovey. Lemme help get your mind off your troubles, eh? We got a good thing going here, and I'm gonna enjoy every second of it. And I plan to make you enjoy it too, multiple times, kinda like last night…How bout I wind you up until you're ready to _explode_? Lemme show you one of my newest and most favorite specialties…"

"Lewd!" she gasped, even as she leaned her head back to give his lips more access to her throat.

His hand was just starting to slide down her side when both their communicators went off at the same time. Her shoulders slumped a little in disappointment and Junkrat cursed loudly, but moved off her so she could roll upright, struggling to get her hair in order. She still wasn't used to it being so short, but at least he said he'd liked it this way? Clearing her throat, she activated her comm, seeing the icons of other agents lighting up one after the other. "Zhou Mei-Ling and Jamison Fawkes present."

Winston's gruff voice piped up on the other end. "We've just had call go out that Talon has made another advance into Oasis. I want following agents; Pharah, McCree, Genji, Mercy, Mei, Junkrat and Roadhog, Symmetra, and Zenyatta to mobilize immediately. You have an hour before the Orca is fueled and stocked, get ready to move. Over."

Mei groaned audibly as she clicked her affirmative response. "Another desert? I was hoping for something a little more…snowy? I'm going to get another awful sunburn on top of my other sunburns, I just know it."

Junkrat snorted, strapping his prosthetic into place on the stump of his thigh. "Well, don't be too hasty about the snow thing, lovey. But ugh, sending us into the middle of posh bot central? S'the only place worse than Numbani. Makes me sick."

She thought for a moment, then pressed herself to his back and wrapped both arms around his narrow shoulders as he started to pull on his arm. "I guess it beats sitting around here wasting away in bed, or getting attacked by bees?"

He pulled off his sunglasses, his scowl soon replaced by his usual toothy smile as he rested his head against hers. "Now you're getting the hang of things! Guess I might even be more careful this time, can't stand the thought of another minute in that fuckin' hospital ward again. "

"Good," she leaned to press a kiss to his cheek before pulling herself upright. "I want you to take care of yourself out there. Although it'll be nice to get back in the field again. I've had lots of time to make adjustments to my endothermic blaster, now my icicles are sharper than ever. Time to show those Talon agents what we're really made of!"

"Oh yeah, those blokes are in for it. You chill 'em, I'll kill 'em, heh, get it? Oh, I'm liking this side of you…After we're done with all that, might have to get you in one of them fancy-arse Oasis hotel rooms and wind you up, just like I said before." His lanky body also heaved upward to stand, his height looming over her as he spotted a familiar, similarly giant figure slowly making its way across the field towards them. "Oi, there's Roadie! Guess I'd better go start double-checking the frags and getting everything ready to move out…" He hesitated, seeing her pause again and look out over the ocean, although he couldn't see what was in her eyes this time. But when he took her hand, she readily looked back to him. "If you need me out there, I'll be right beside ya."

She nodded slowly, and her smile returned. "I know."

"And if you get pinned down in the field, just give me or Roadie a shout and we'll be right there. From now on, I'm the only one allowed to pin you down!"

"Ugh, really?" She elbowed him lightly in the arm, and he elbowed her right back. "…You ready?"

Pulling her forward, he let her take the lead into their next mission. " _Let's go_!"


End file.
